Expanding USAID’s Ebola Response to Help Bring an End to the Outbreak

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is counting down to the end to the worst Ebola outbreak in the country. But beneath the surface of this epidemic is a much larger humanitarian crisis that has persisted for decades. Addressing these issues has been key to helping curb the spread of the disease.

In 2019, USAID has expanded its Ebola programs in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces in eastern the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Even before these two provinces were hit hard by the Ebola outbreak, they suffered from decades-long armed conflicts. Map credit: USAID/OFDA

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the world’s second biggest on record, killing more than 2,260 people since it began in mid-2018. What many people don’t realize is that this is more than just a public health crisis. Decades-long armed conflicts, government mistrust, and existing humanitarian needs have created a complex and complicated environment that has challenged response efforts.

Approximately five million people in the DRC are currently displaced due to violence and insecurity, making it the largest displaced population in Africa. Photo credits (left to right): USAID, Medair, USAID

In September 2018, USAID deployed an elite Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to serve as the lead coordinator of the U.S. Government’s Ebola response efforts in the DRC.

USAID DART Leader Brian Kurbis. Photo credit: USAID

Now, in addition to working with UN and NGO partners on direct efforts to contain the outbreak, the Goma-based DART is also working with affected communities to identify the long-standing humanitarian gaps and ensure that the new programs help meet local needs and priorities.

“Many of these communities have had to deal with challenges — including poverty, mass displacement, armed group violence, and lack of access to water — for a long time,” Brian Kurbis, USAID Ebola DART Leader explained. “This new programming is a recognition that there are serious needs other than Ebola in these communities.”

Here are three ways USAID’s DART expanded its Ebola response efforts in eastern DRC.

Members of USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) visit a health center in Nyiragongo DRC to monitor Ebola programming. Photo credit: Emily Rasinski, USAID/OFDA

1. Primary Health Care

USAID is working with partners like Save the Children, International Medical Corps, IMA World Health, and Medair to help improve access to primary health care in North Kivu and Ituri province. This includes improving reproductive health care services and providing equipment and medication as well as nutritional services in health facilities.

USAID will support more health facilities in Ituri and North Kivu province similar to this one, which USAID is currently working with Medair to run and provide free health services. “If women didn’t have access to free deliveries, most of them would stay at home, and if there are complications, then their and the babies’ lives are at risk,” explains Jeanne, a midwife at the facility. Photo credits: Medair

“Ebola is but one of many health concerns facing people in eastern DRC. Communities are challenged daily by other communicable diseases such as malaria, respiratory infections like measles, and diarrheal illnesses, as well as a lack of affordable health care. USAID is supporting the delivery of free, comprehensive primary health care services to help address the spectrum of essential health needs.”

Jolene Nakao, USAID Health Advisor

Members of the USAID DART, including Health Advisor Jolene Nakao visits a USAID-funded health facility in Butmebo, DRC. Photo credit: USAID

2. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Interventions

“In general, there is limited access to safe drinking water and sanitation in all of eastern Congo. This is especially true in Ebola affected communities. Simple interventions, like handwashing, are key to Ebola prevention. However, it’s not realistic to expect communities to prioritize handwashing when they barely have enough water for drinking, cooking and their other basic needs. In addition, reducing the time or cost required to collect water can allow households with Ebola survivors to focus on their recovery.”

Angelica Fleischer, USAID Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Technical Advisor

USAID is working with UN and NGO partners to provide supplies like water buckets and jerrycans. Photo credits: USAID

USAID is working with International Medical Corps, World Vision, Save the Children, Medair, and FHI 360 to rehabilitate and construct water facilities and water access points, provide water quality monitoring, jerry cans, buckets, soap and aquatabs to help provide safe drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. In addition, USAID is working with World Vision to construct latrines that are accessible to people with physical disabilities.

3. Job and Skills Training

“If we are to effectively engage with local communities, we must also listen to their needs and priorities. This includes supporting them in livelihood activities, like vocational training programs, in order to be self-sustaining. Lack of economic opportunities helps drive conflict. Conflict and insecurity is making it harder to stop the spread of Ebola.”

Nick Cox, USAID Response Management Team Leader

USAID is working with FHI 360, Danish Refugee Council, and Mercy Corps to provide vocational training programs, life skills classes for youth, and job opportunities — like road and bridge rehabilitation — within local communities.

Members of USAID’s DART listen to local health officials during a recent field visit in near Goma. Photo credit: Emily Rasinski, USAID/OFDA

In order to declare the “end” of an Ebola outbreak, an affected area must go 42 days — double the 21-day incubation period of the virus — without a new confirmed or probable case.

Although we remain cautiously optimistic as we count down the days, it’s important to know that even after that threshold is met, USAID’s work will not be over. USAID provided humanitarian assistance in the DRC before this outbreak began, and our commitment to the people of the DRC will continue after it ends.

Read more about USAID’s humanitarian efforts in the DRC.

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