Ebola in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: One Health approach to infectious disease control

Sikakulya, Franck katembo; Mulisya, Olivier; Munyambalu, Dalton Kambale; Bunduki, Gabriel Kambale

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been facing its tenth outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) since 1 August 2018. This outbreak is currently ongoing in the North-Kivu and Ituri provinces of DRC. Previous outbreaks in DRC occurred in remote and hard-to-reach areas, while the ongoing outbreak is occurring in urban environments. Furthermore, there are other unique challenges during this outbreak, such as community resistance and security issues due to the epicentre being in a conflict zone. In the history of EVD outbreaks, this has been the second most deadly after the one that occurred in West Africa in 2014. The DRC is located in central Africa, neighboring with nine countries (Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia). A majority of the population from North-Kivu and Ituri provinces travel for trade and business between their neighboring countries in the East (Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda). Hence, controlling the outbreak in those two proviences would prevent its spread to these countries.