Since the declaration of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a public health emergency of international concern in July 2019, the African Union has stepped up its support for preparedness and response to the disease in the DRC and neighbouring countries.

 

The AU has taken several direct and indirect actions in this regard with one of the most significant being the recruitment of more volunteers to join the response force in the DRC. Following a call for additional volunteers  a team embarked on a recruitment mission in the DRC in August leading to the selection of 30 individuals to join the team of 36 volunteers already in the field.

 

Dr Justus Nsio, a representative of the National Ebola Coordinator noted that the recruitment was justified by the need to help put an end to Ebola virus disease outbreak in the DRC and remarked that the additional volunteers would give a new impetus to response efforts enabling a wider  coverage of the targeted areas. 

 

In addition to the recruitment of volunteers, the AU’s Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has deployed one of its staff and relocated four volunteers to Goma, a city which witnessed some confirmed cases of EVD recently. Africa CDC also deployed 2 staff members each to South Sudan and Uganda to support preparedness activities, including strengthening of public health emergency operation centre (PHEOC) operations, GeneXpert laboratory machine pre-installation assessment, EVD alert investigation, and development of monitoring tools. The deployed staff participate in planning and coordination activities at the country level, and support training of relevant personnel in PHEOC operations, laboratory support for EVD, surveillance, contact tracing, and other emergency preparedness activities.

 

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