Africa CDC director warns Congo Ebola outbreak could become worst on record

[00:00:00]Top health officials in Africa are warning that the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa could become the worst in history if transmission rates are not flattened. The director of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than 200 people thus far have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Uganda. The total number of confirmed cases nearly 900 and appears to be growing. That is the number of cases.

[00:00:25]I want to bring in Syra Madad. She is an infectious disease epidemiologist at Harvard University's Belfer Center.

[00:00:32]Syra, I'm glad to have you with us.

[00:00:33]Thanks for joining us. Walk my audience through what we know and what we fear might happen.

[00:00:40]>> Yeah, well, I think first I'll start by sharing that the current Ebola outbreak of the Budibugyo virus is already the third largest Ebola outbreak on record.

[00:00:49]So, that really goes to show you that a little over 1 month since this outbreak was detected, it's already the third largest, which, you know, is expanding in geographic location. We're up to 31 health zones and three provinces have been states of being affected and nearly 900 cases. This is not just a story of the number of cases that are being detected. It's a story of the number of people that are also being contact traced, and that's also where we're also falling behind. So, there's a lot that's complicating the matter that the matter.

[00:01:16]The first is as we talk about contact tracing, these are the number of individuals that have come in contact with a confirmed case of Ebola. Now, estimates show that we should be tracking about 33,000, and the reason why we're coming up with that 33,000 number is for every one case, we're typically looking at about 40 contacts that they may have. Now, according to the most recent World Health Organization report, they're only contact tracing about 4,000 of those individuals. So, there's a very large number that still are out, and they're not being contact traced. So, there's lots of complexities, and the one thing that I'll also share is that this outbreak is occurring in an area of conflict, uh of neglect, um of militarized response, and a and a huge, um, you know, humanitarian need. So, there's lots of confounding factors here.

[00:02:04]>> And what do we know, Syra, about the ability to place health workers and facilities that they need to either trace or treat those that they're tracking or who have already been sickened?

[00:02:19]>> Yeah, so as we talk about the ETUs, Ebola Treatment Units, there's a number that are being stood up, uh, you know, along the num- uh, number of these areas that are being affected. What's important here is that we're seeing a significant gap in funding needs. So, only about 10% of pledged donations have actually made it to the affected areas.

[00:02:37]And so, we certainly need to increase resources and funding. What you're hearing and among reports and from healthcare workers is that there's a shortage of basic supplies, personal protective equipment or PPE, um, the ability to provide supportive care. So, the most basic and very basic resources and and and infrastructure like running clean water, that's still a significant need. So, it's not just about having treatment centers readily available, which is still very important, but it's making sure they have these resources.

[00:03:02]So, we need to make sure we're increasing the number of funding, and the funding is not a magic bullet. It's not as if you're sending money and it's getting there right away. There's an entire process of once funding is shared and sent, then it goes through an entire process of distribution and actually being able to be used on the front lines. And so, this is both an issue of funding and resources, as well as one of the biggest obstacles that is being experienced here is the issue of trust. And this is a decades-old problem. This is not, uh, you know, a problem of misinformation that folks are not believing this is an actual outbreak of Ebola virus disease.

[00:03:36]This is a long-standing history of neglect, um, of militarized response, of inequity happening in these communities that when we come in and only support on one outbreak response, we're neglecting that there is a number of other issues happening in that community, poverty, injustice, other illnesses. And so, we need to support it from a holistic standpoint.

[00:03:56]>> Saira Mehdat of Harvard University's Belfer Center, I appreciate that perspective. Thank you very much.

[00:04:02]>> Thank you.