The key facts

  • 12 emergency nurseries have been opened in DR Congo for children orphaned by Ebola; the provincial child protection service office has registered 8,200 new orphans.
  • According to the latest government figures, 9,704 people have been infected and 4,687 have died — a fatality rate of nearly 50%; the epidemic, the 17th in the country's history, is recognized as the deadliest and remains uncontrolled.
  • Cases have also been detected in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria; there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, and a clinical trial is underway.

Nurseries for Orphans in the Epicenter of the Outbreak

Five months into the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 12 emergency nurseries are operating in remote eastern areas of the country, taking in children who lost their parents to the highly contagious hemorrhagic fever. One of these facilities, supported by UNICEF, is located in Mangbwalu — a mining town in Ituri province near the border with Uganda, considered the epicenter of the outbreak. “Many children have lost both their father and their mother to Ebola,” AFP was told by caregiver Marie Bakikula, who herself survived the disease and volunteered to work at the facility.

Children Among the Sick and the Dead

According to UNICEF, children account for about a third of the dead and more than a quarter of those infected in the current crisis — more than 2,000 cases among them have been registered in total. The orphans arriving at the nursery watched their parents die while burial teams in protective suits took away the bodies. Others were separated from their families when infected parents were transferred to Ebola treatment centers. “They all believe that once they arrive here, they will never see their parents again,” noted the nursery's psychologist Monique Njangosi.

21 Days of Observation

The children remain under observation for 21 days — the incubation period of the disease — in case symptoms appear. Next to the nursery, workers in protective suits were loading a child's coffin into a pickup truck. The children playing at the facility use soft toys that were recently disinfected with chlorine; their mothers tested positive for the virus. “One of them developed symptoms seven days after arrival and was hospitalized in an Ebola treatment center,” Bakikula reported. The children's only contact with their infected parents remains photographs and videos taken by health workers: “We cannot take them to the treatment center to see their parents. It is too risky,” Njangosi explained.

Difficulties with Identification and Finding Relatives

In some cases, child protection teams find relatives, even distant ones, willing to care for the orphans; in others this proves impossible. “We still have children whom we have not been able to identify because they are too young and their parents were admitted in a coma,” said Céline Lusinde, head of the provincial child protection service. Her office has registered 8,200 children orphaned since the beginning of the outbreak. Marie-Thérèse Tsesi, a 63-year-old nurse, has taken in five orphans in her mud-brick house near the Mangbwalu hospital. “Their father was the last parent they had left. He died of Ebola. They were sleeping outside and showing signs of malnutrition,” she said.

Scale of the Epidemic and Constraints on the Response

The current epidemic — the 17th in DR Congo's history — has quickly become the deadliest ever recorded in the country and remains uncontrolled despite months of efforts. Cases have also been detected in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. According to the latest figures from health authorities, the disease, which is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, has infected 9,704 people and killed 4,687 in DR Congo — a fatality rate of nearly 50%. A clinical trial is underway, but there is still no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain driving the outbreak. Medical workers face a shortage of resources, and insecurity due to armed groups in Ituri — the area hardest hit by the epidemic — limits access to some communities. Many deaths outside medical facilities are believed to remain unregistered.