The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived in Congo on Wednesday. Meanwhile, aid workers reported that the world’s fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak is escalating at an “alarming” rate, and some health workers are on strike due to unpaid salaries. The WHO country office told the Associated Press (AP) that WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was scheduled to meet with partners and President Félix Tshisekedi in the capital, Kinshasa. This was his second visit since the outbreak was declared in mid-May. According to data released by Congo’s Ministry of Health, there were 3,874 confirmed cases of Ebola—including 1,751 deaths—as of Monday. In Ituri, the epicenter of the outbreak, families reported that many frontline workers had gone on strike, making access to healthcare even more difficult. Healthcare conditions were already challenging due to rebel conflict in the eastern region—one of Congo’s most remote and vulnerable areas, bordering South Sudan, Uganda, and Rwanda. Although some frontline workers say they have started receiving payment for work done since the outbreak began last week, they are demanding better wages. Anicet Baluku, a resident of Bunia (the capital of Ituri), blamed the strike for the deaths of his two brothers from Ebola. He told the AP, “We appeal to the authorities to find a solution as soon as possible so that other families do not have to face such a tragedy.” This outbreak has surpassed all previous Ebola outbreaks in history in terms of its spread rate and is the second-largest on record. A larger outbreak occurred in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, in which more than 28,000 cases and over 11,000 deaths were recorded.
