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UNICEF DR Congo Ebola Situation Report #55 North Kivu, Ituri and South Kivu - Reporting Period: 17 February to 01 March 2020

Países
RD del Congo
Fuentes
UNICEF
Fecha de publicación

Key epidemic numbers

1 new confirmed case

3,310 confirmed cases

922 children <18 among confirmed cases

2,130 deaths among confirmed cases

Key figures

18 implementing partners, including 12 national actors

916 community workers and mobilizers

50 community radio partners

470 psychosocial agents, including caregivers, in UNICEF-run nurseries

63 IPC/WASH supervisors and 291 hygienists for decontaminations

28 nutritionists and 4 supervisors in Ebola Treatment Centers (ETC)

Highlights

  • Despite the recent arrival in Beni of internally displaced persons (IDPs) fleeing insecurity in Mangina, the epidemic spread could be controlled and only one new Ebola case was registered during the reporting period.

  • In Mangina, the improved security situation allowed IDPs to progressively return to their villages of origin. UNICEF staff was redeployed to the area and activities resumed, including the measles campaign in Aloya during which, within five days, over 80 per cent of children aged 6 to 59 months were vaccinated.

  • As part of Pillar 3 interventions, UNICEF-supported implementing partners built three water sources and two impluviums in Mabalako and Mandima health zones. They also built 20 latrines and established a maintenance committee in five schools in Lwemba (Mandima).

  • UNICEF, together with the educational governmental partner for Primary, Secondary and Technical Education (EPST), distributed school supplies to 15 primary schools in Biakato, benefiting more than 5,000 students, including 483 displaced children.

Context highlights

Contacts’ follow-up in Beni continued in the isolation site of Kanzulinzuli, with the support of UNICEF and WHO. As of 1st March, the site hosted 24 high risk contacts, including six children.

In Mangina, after weeks of insecurity leading to population displacements mainly to Beni, the overall situation has been improving and people started to return to their villages of origin. On 17th February, UNICEF staff were redeployed to Mangina and coordination activities progressively resumed. The Ebola treatment center (ETC) and the nursery reopened on 21 February, after being closed for 11 days. Despite insecurity, no new EVD case was reported in the Mangina sub-coordination area. On 21 February, Mangina has recorded 21 days without a case for the first time since the beginning of the outbreak.

UNICEF and partners celebrated the discharge of the 255th Ebola survivor in the Mangina sub-coordination area. The patient, originally from Kisasa village, was discharged from the ETC in Beni where she had been displaced. This case didn’t generate other cases among over 300 contacts thanks to its rapid isolation and to the strong engagement of the traditional leader and community of Kisasa village in the fight against Ebola.

In Mangina, UNICEF supported the measles vaccination campaign in Aloya health zone, which had been excluded from the vaccination campaign that took place in December 2019 due tothe area being an Ebola hotspot2 . UNICEF promoted specific IPC/WASH prevention measures and distributed thermoflashes, which allowed to screen the temperature of 13,541 people and refer them in case of high temperature. As of 1 March, 82.7 per cent of the 7,791 children aged 6 to 59 months targeted for the campaign were vaccinated.

In Biakato, the security situation has progressively deteriorated with an increased risk of population displacements in the coming weeks. UNICEF staff have not been able to travel to Biakato or use the road between Mangina and Biakato since 24 January when MONUSCO foiled an attack by armed forces on the coordination offices.