(Adnkronos) – Italy is donating 1,150,000 euros to help fight the deadly Ebola outbreak in conflict-hit Democratic Republic of the Congo, including interventions to halt transmission, strengthen epidemiological monitoring, the local health system’s response, and to build local communities’ trust in the World Health Organization’s containment measures, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The funding will be made available to Italian civil society organisations operating in the Ebola-hit provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu in DRC’s east, focussing on four United Nations priority areas: infection prevention and control (IPC), epidemiological surveillance and contact tracing, immediate health response and community engagement, said the statement.
Foreign minister Antonio Tajani approved the allocation of the funds, which was signed off by his deputy, Edmondo Cirielli, the statement noted.
Italy’s overseas aid department will also make a 290,000 euro contribution to support crisis response action led by the WHO, the statement said
The new funding adds to two ongoing humanitarian initiatives financed by Italy’s overseas aid department worth a total 5.5 million euros involving five projects being implemented by civil society organisations in the DRC’s eastern provinces.
Eastern DRC is at the centre of a “catastrophic collision of disease and conflict” with the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province outpacing the response, warned WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was set to arrive in DRC on Wednesday to spearhead the scaling up of efforts to contain the virus.
There is no vaccine or approved treament for the current Bundibugyo strain of Ebola identified in DRC.
Ongoing conflict is hampering the response to the Ebola outbreak with 220 people in DRC suspected of having died since the outbreak of the disease and Congoloses health authorities say around 1,000 people are currently showing symptoms consistent with Ebola.
Stopping transmission of the virus “depends entirely on humanitarian access,” Tedros wrote on X. The ongoing clashes in DRC are driving mass displacements and fuelling Ebola’s spread, while attacks on health facilities are making it “nearly impossible” to track cases and their contents, he warned.
“We urge all warring parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire to contain this outbreak,” he wrote.
