UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher announced on Friday that he is allocating up to 60 million U.S. dollars from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to accelerate the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the wider region.
"We need to get ahead of this Ebola outbreak," Fletcher said in a statement.
While the humanitarian community is fully mobilized, he said, "the epidemiological context is challenging: there are not yet licensed vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain."
Noting that these are some of the most difficult operating environments in the world for the life-saving work, with conflict and high population movement, Fletcher said the United Nations is working to secure safe and sustained access for frontline responders, including to areas controlled by armed groups.
"It is essential that there is no obstruction of our response. We must have access to all routes -- air, land and water -- across the affected areas," he said.
The UN relief chief underscored that containment depends on fast, coordinated action at the community level, stressing the importance of strong communication with governments, and effective early warning and detection systems.
Fletcher said he is in close contact with UN humanitarian coordinators and the teams in the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan, and more staff from key UN agencies and partners are being deployed this weekend to reinforce the effort.
In addition, the World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up its emergency operations in eastern DRC to assist the government, the World Health Organization, and other partners in containing the spread of the Ebola outbreak as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, the UN Humanitarian Air Service is working to repair damaged airport facilities and is adding new flight routes to ensure that relief workers and critical supplies reach target areas as quickly as possible.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters that relief efforts need multiple conditions on top of medical treatment.
"Containing Ebola requires more than treatment alone, WFP says. It requires food, it requires access, it requires transport and it requires logistics so frontline teams can move fast and affected families can safely follow public health measures," he said.
UN allocates 60 mln USD to accelerate response to Ebola outbreak in DRC
