Analysis of the management of the tenth Ebola virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo: developing a multidisciplinary response model to strengthen the healthcare system during disease outbreaks

Bives Mutume Vivalya,Okesina Akeem Ayodeji,Jean-Bosco Kahindo Mbeva,Louis Kasereka Muyisa,Astride Lina Piripiri,Yves Tibamwenda Bafwa

doi:10.1186/s12992-021-00775-4

Abstract

The declaration of any public health emergency in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is usually followed by the provision of technical and organizational support from international organizations, which build a parallel and short-time healthcare emergency response centered on preventing the extension of health emergencies across the countries and over the world. Previous Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks have highlighted the need to reinforce the healthcare sector in different countries.Based on the difficulty to implement the International Health Regulations (2005) to the local level of affected countries including the DRC, this paper proposes a multidisciplinary model based on the health zones through the strengthening of preparedness and response structures to public health emergencies vis-à-vis the existing weak health systems existing in DRC. A commitment to integrating the emergency response in the existing health system should work to reduce the tension that exists between local recruitment and its impact on the quality of daily healthcare in the region affected by EVD outbreak on one hand, and the involvement of international recruitment and its impact on the trust of the population on the emergency response on the other. This paper highlights the provision of a local healthcare workforce skilled to treat infectious diseases, the compulsory implementation of training programs focused on the emergency response in countries commonly affected by EVD outbreaks including the DRC. These innovations should reduce the burden of health problems prior to and in the aftermath of any public health emergency in DRC hence increasing the wellbeing of the community, especially the vulnerable people as well as the availability of trained healthcare providers able to early recognize and treat EVD.

Highlights

The declaration of any public health emergency is followed by the provision of technical support from international organizations to individual countries to limit the widespread of infectious diseases [1, 2]
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the tenth Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak which occurred in a war-tone region took nearly two years and was characterized by 3470 reported cases and 2287 deaths, it was marked by the use of approved drugs and vaccines against the Ebola virus by the United States Food and Drug Administration [7]
While conducting the analysis and reviewing the challenges identified during the tenth EVD outbreak in DRC, this paper proposes an alternative model based on a health system able to respond to future outbreaks that involve community engagement, the provision of skilled healthcare workers, and perform the quality of healthcare during outbreaks

Summary

Introduction

The declaration of any public health emergency is followed by the provision of technical support from international organizations to individual countries to limit the widespread of infectious diseases [1, 2]. While conducting the analysis and reviewing the challenges identified during the tenth EVD outbreak in DRC, this paper proposes an alternative model based on a health system able to respond to future outbreaks that involve community engagement, the provision of skilled healthcare workers, and perform the quality of healthcare during outbreaks.

Results

Conclusion