This archive report was first published on 17 August 2019.
August 17, 2019
Scientists have made a breakthrough in the search for a cure for Ebola, but the disease's spread is also linked to societal factors such as governance deficits and mistrust of authorities.
More than 1,800 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo have succumbed to Ebola since the outbreak started there in August 2018. An outbreak that swept through Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone between 2013 and 2016 claimed more than 11,000 lives.
The mAb114 and REGN-EB3 experimental drugs developed from the antibodies of Ebola survivors have achieved cure rates above 90 per cent during recent trials on patients in the DRC. However, the outcome is contingent on the timing of treatment, with patients who started early showing better outcomes.
Uganda and Burundi have embraced an immunisation campaign for borderline communities, but the medical breakthrough alone should not be misconstrued as a panacea. Lacking a neutral flag, responders in the DRC have been blocked from reaching some communities at the centre of the outbreak.
Earlier programmes to tackle diseases such as malaria and measles offer valuable lessons. Malaria's persistence is an enduring metaphor for how a governance deficit can neutralise the best efforts.
For East Africa and DRC's other neighbours, the struggle with Ebola is a lesson in progress. Political instability, violence, and mistrust of authorities have made it difficult for medical workers to deliver interventions to the communities most in need of them.
