Bunia and Rwampara

Congo motorcyclists mobilise as Ebola outbreak fuels fear

Dozens of motorcycle taxi drivers took to the streets of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday as part of an awareness campaign aimed at combating Ebola misinformation and encouraging communities to take the outbreak seriously. Wearing white “Stop Ebola” T-shirts and carrying banners with prevention advice, the riders travelled through the towns of Bunia and Rwampara in Ituri province, the region most affected by the outbreak. The campaign was organised with support from the...

Ebola outbreak Congo: WHO chief visits epicentre as virus spreads faster than response

Ebola outbreak Congo: WHO chief visits epicentre as virus spreads faster than response The Bundibugyo virus, the strain of Ebola currently circulating, has no approved treatment or vaccine The head of the World Health Organisation arrived in Bunia, eastern Congo, on Saturday — a city at the centre of a rare Ebola outbreak where the virus continues to spread faster than efforts to contain it, despite improved health facilities and fresh aid deliveries. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom...

‘Among the things he feared most was death’: the doctors and nurses dying on the Ebola frontline

Medics battling the incurable disease in Democratic Republic of the Congo working in ‘agonising’ conditionsWhen Dr Vladimir Maduali died of Ebola in the early hours of Sunday morning, he was the fourth member of staff at his hospital to be killed by the disease in as many days. Two days later, his colleague Dr Tibenderana Katho Blaise also died of the disease at the Bunia Evangelical medical centre, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Maduali graduated from the University of Bunia just...

‘Among the things he feared most was death’: the doctors and nurses dying on the Ebola frontline

Ebola 'spreading unchecked for months' as patient zero traced back to January

Ebola 'spreading unchecked for months' as patient zero traced back to January Health care workers in Africa have just admitted patient zero zero could be traced back to Janurary, months earlier than previously thought, in the eastern DRC village of Rwampara Ebola may have been running rampant in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since January, with local officials tracing the latest outbreak of the killer virus back to a patient zero at the turn of the year. But, for some reason, that...