European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, visited Bunia, the capital of Ituri province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, to support the international response to an ongoing epidemic in the region.
On the ground, the European Union representative called for a ceasefire in the area plagued by armed violence, stressing the need to guarantee safe and unimpeded humanitarian access for health workers and aid organizations. "The European Union is taking this emergency situation very seriously," she said.
She indicated that Brussels was mobilizing additional resources, including a five million euro fund to strengthen diagnostic capacities in the most affected areas. According to her, several humanitarian shipments have already been delivered to eastern DRC, including medicines, protective equipment, and temporary infrastructure, with further flights planned for Bunia in the coming days.
The World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have also launched a six-month, $518 million response plan to strengthen surveillance, laboratory testing, and infection prevention. The epicenter of the outbreak is in Ituri province, a region marked by both persistent insecurity due to the presence of armed groups and difficult access because of the poor state of the road infrastructure, which severely complicates humanitarian operations.
