Mirian Gom 
NAIROBI, Kenya – The Africa CDC Ebola response has recorded important gains in containing the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but new infections continue to outpace response efforts, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has warned.
The Head of the Continental Incident Management Support Team for the Ebola response, Wessam Mankoula, disclosed this during a webinar on Thursday, saying the continental response has expanded despite mounting pressure on health systems.
Mankoula said the Africa CDC Incident Management Support Team is now fully operational in Uganda, coordinating response activities with governments and health partners across the continent.
He added that the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has supported the implementation of a memorandum of understanding between the DRC and Uganda to strengthen cross-border Ebola surveillance, information sharing and emergency response.
According to him, laboratory capacity has improved significantly, enabling health authorities to conduct more than 2,000 Ebola tests daily across affected areas.
Mankoula also announced the commencement of clinical trials evaluating Ebola therapeutics, describing the development as a major step towards improving treatment outcomes.
Despite these advances, he warned that confirmed Ebola infections increased by 25 per cent over the past week, signalling continued community transmission.
He said Ebola treatment centres are operating under severe strain, with bed occupancy reaching 95 per cent, while contact tracing remains below international targets.
“Only seven contacts are identified for every confirmed case, which remains well below the recommended benchmark,” he said, adding that infections among frontline health workers continue to complicate containment efforts.
Mankoula, however, described Uganda’s response as encouraging, noting that the country has recorded 20 Ebola cases, most linked to imported infections, but rapidly contained further transmission through strong surveillance and swift public health interventions.
Health experts continue to warn that sustained surveillance, cross-border cooperation and adequate funding remain critical to preventing the outbreak from spreading further across the region.
About the Author
