Red Cross Warns More Funds Needed For DRC Ebola Response; Some Health Workers Disguise Themselves To Avoid Violence

Agence France-Presse: Red Cross warns underfunding could hamstring DRC Ebola response
“The Red Cross warned Thursday that critical underfunding could force it to cut vital work to rein in the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo at a time when case numbers are soaring. Without more funds, it would need to begin ‘dramatically’ scaling back its operations within two weeks, Emanuele Capobianco, health director of the International Federation of the Red Cross told reporters in Geneva…” (5/16).

CIDRAP News: Ebola setting in ‘unpredictable calm’ as cases rise by 21
“Security problems have eased a bit into an ‘unpredictable calm,’ as the outbreak continues to intensify, the World Health Organization (WHO) said [Thursday], as Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) health officials reported 21 more cases…” (Schnirring, 5/16).

Washington Post: With more than 1,100 dead, Congo’s Ebola outbreak is only getting worse. Now doctors are forced to go undercover
“Some doctors fighting the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history are afraid to wear scrubs. They mask their identities to avoid harassment and violence in Congo, where the epidemic is spreading at the fastest rate since it started in August — and where rampant misinformation fuels a distrust of outsiders in medical garb. … Fear is changing tactics among aid staffers, who set out to convince communities that Ebola is real and they were there to help end it…” (Paquette/Sun, 5/16).

Additional coverage of the DRC Ebola outbreak and response is available from the Associated Press, Axios, and New Humanitarian.

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