Congo faces health worker shortage amid fastest-growing Ebola outbreak

BUNIA, Congo (AP) – Congo is running short of health workers to staff treatment centers for history's fastest-growing Ebola outbreak, particularly in the eastern province of North Kivu where cases have surged 73% over three weeks, the World Health Organization remarked Wednesday.

Key points

• 20, cases fell 26% in Ituri province and 15% in Haut-Uele, remarked Marie Roseline Belizaire, the WHO's regional emergency director for Africa.
• The warning came despite signs of improvement in other provinces, including Ituri, the outbreak's epicenter.
• "While cases and deaths are declining in some provinces, they continue to rise in others, " Belizaire remarked.

What happened

Notably, the warning came despite signs of improvement in other provinces, including Ituri, the outbreak's epicenter. The outbreak has spread to seven provinces, with 7, 773 confirmed cases and 3, 759 deaths, according to the latest administration figures.

Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 20, cases fell 26% in Ituri province and 15% in Haut-Uele, remarked Marie Roseline Belizaire, the WHO's regional emergency director for Africa. But transmission patterns vary widely and the outbreak remains uncontrolled, she remarked.

"While cases and deaths are declining in some provinces, they continue to rise in others, " Belizaire remarked. "The outbreak is still not under control and remains spread across a wide geographic area."

The bottom line

In short, congo faces health worker shortage amid fastest is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.