La Prensa Medica

Impact of DRC Ebola response under the paradigm of scaling science

Joseph Mimbale

In 44 years, since the first DRC Ebola outbreak in 1976, the country has experienced 10 waves of the Ebola outbreak _ making it the country that has experienced and suffered the most from the Ebola outbreak. The last outbreak _ of August 2018 _ was the second largest Ebola outbreak after that of West Africa from 2013 to 2015. And unlike many previous outbreaks, the current Ebola outbreak is highly pathogenic and is undergoing major mutations _ posing new challenges for treatment and prevention. While the epidemic has spread rapidly _ with high numbers of casualties to neighbouring countries _ it must be acknowledged that the DRC's response has been overshadowed by a crisis of governance and political legitimacy, the cycle of violence in the eastern part of the country, public mistrust of the Ebola response teams, political transition and conspiracy theories. But anyway, the eruption of the outbreak attracted the attention of several International Relations actors such as national governments, international organizations, NGOs which, altogether, played an important role in the conception and implementation of the DRC Ebola response.