Browsing by Author "Otshudiema, John"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The colliding epidemics of COVID-19, Ebola, and measles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
    (Elsevier, 2020) Nachega, Jean B.; Mbala-Kingebeni, Placide; Otshudiema, John; Zumla, Alimuddin; Tam-Fum, Jean-Jacques Muyembe
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing major public health challenges due to a confluence of major outbreaks of Ebola virus disease, measles, and COVID-19.1–4 The tenth Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo began on Aug 1, 2018, and as of May 28, 2020, there have been 3406 Ebola virus disease cases with 2243 deaths. The Ebola virus disease outbreak was well controlled in northeast DR Congo following a multisectoral response, but four new confirmed Ebola cases were detected in northwest DR Congo on June 1, 2020, and an outbreak response is underway.4 Additionally, the DR Congo has been burdened with recurrent measles outbreaks: 13 3802 cases in 2011, 88381 cases in 2013, and 311471 cases in 2019.2 The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in DR Congo was diagnosed on March 10, 2020, and the government declared a state of emergency on March 24, 2020. A national multisectoral response committee instituted lockdown in the capital, Kinshasa, the epicentre of the epidemic in DR Congo, in which daily confirmed cases now average 100. As of June 16, 2020, 4777 COVID-19 cases with 106 deaths have been reported from the DR Congo.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Responding to the Challenge of the Dual COVID-19 and Ebola Epidemics in the Democratic Republic of Congo—Priorities for Achieving Control
    (2020) Nachega, Jean B; Mbala-Kingebeni, Placide; Otshudiema, John; Mobula, Linda M
    Abstract. As of June 11, 2020, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported 4,258 COVID-19 cases with 90 deaths. With other African countries, the DRC faces the challenge of striking a balance between easing public health lockdown measures to curtail the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and minimizing both economic hardships for large sectors of the population and negative impacts on health services for other infectious and noninfectious diseases. The DRC recently controlled its tenth Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak, but COVID-19 and a new EVD outbreak beginning on June 1, 2020 in the northwest ´Equateur Province have added an additional burden to health services. Although the epidemiology and transmission of EVD and COVID-19 differ, leveraging the public health infrastructures and experiences fromcoordinating the EVD response to guide the public health response toCOVID-19 is critical. Building on the DRC’s 40 years of experience with 10 previous EVD outbreaks, we highlight the DRC’s multi-sectoral public health approach to COVID-19, which includes community-based screening, testing, contact-tracing, risk communication, community engagement, and case management. We also highlight remaining challenges and discuss the way forward for achieving control of both COVID-19 and EVD in the DRC.