Women and children continue to bear a disproportionate burden of the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where nearly one million people have been displaced, the UN said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday that about 80 per cent of those displaced in Ituri are women and children.
According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), children account for nearly one-third of all Ebola-related deaths, despite making up about a quarter of confirmed cases.
The outbreak has also severely disrupted access to essential healthcare. In the worst-affected areas of Ituri, the use of health services has fallen by more than 40 per cent in recent months as fear of infection keeps people away, UNICEF said.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) warned that fear of Ebola and overstretched health facilities are preventing many pregnant women from seeking medical care.
Maternal deaths in Ituri have nearly doubled since the outbreak began, with an average of about six women dying each week from childbirth-related complications. Ebola infection during pregnancy is also associated with an almost universal risk of fetal loss, according to the UN.
OCHA stressed that restoring community confidence is critical to containing the outbreak. UNICEF and its partners, along with the DRC Ministry of Public Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), have deployed 13,000 community workers and others to promote Ebola prevention and early detection.
The teams have reached more than 2.4 million people with prevention messages and conducted over 500,000 household visits to counter misinformation and encourage early treatment.
In neighbouring South Sudan, the UN and its partners are continuing government-led preparedness measures against Ebola. Although no cases have been confirmed in the country, the outbreak in the DRC and cross-border movement of people continue to pose a risk, OCHA said.
Preparedness measures include disease surveillance, screening at border entry points, health worker training, the provision of medical supplies and community awareness campaigns.
This month, health partners screened more than 135,300 travellers entering South Sudan. More than 300 health workers and frontline personnel have also been trained in screening, triage, infection prevention and control, referrals and safe burials. More than seven tonnes of emergency supplies have been pre-positioned in Yambio, near the DRC border.
However, insecurity continues to hamper humanitarian operations. OCHA said 451 incidents that blocked or threatened humanitarian activities were reported across South Sudan between January and July.
Along the Yei-Morobo corridor, 32 humanitarian staff abductions have been recorded since January last year, highlighting the challenges of operating in areas considered at high risk of Ebola transmission.
(IANS Inputs)
