Health facilities at the epicentre of Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are overwhelmed and running short of basic supplies, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Monday, appealing for 20 million Swiss francs ($25 million).
The appeal targets Bulape in central Congo, where stocks of clean water and protective equipment are nearing exhaustion and power is out in parts of the area, the IFRC said. The outbreak, Congo’s first in three years, was declared in early September.
“The main isolation unit in Bulape has few available beds, and the only treatment centre is already at 119% capacity,” the federation said. Ariel Kestens, IFRC head of delegation in Kinshasa, added that facilities “are overwhelmed” and “essential supplies are not available.”
Congo’s dense tropical forests are a natural reservoir for the Ebola virus, which causes fever, severe aches and diarrhoea, and can persist in survivors and re-emerge years later. The World Health Organization (WHO) said last week there were 48 confirmed and probable cases and 31 deaths.
Without immediate resources, the virus could spread quickly across “already fragile communities,” said Gregoire Mateso, president of the DRC Red Cross. The WHO has begun vaccinating frontline health workers and contacts of infected people in Kasai province.