Kinshasa (GNP): A senior United Nations refugee agency official has warned that displacement and the loss of access to healthcare are a major concern in the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Allen Maina, chief of the Public Health Section at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said these factors make the outbreak harder to contain.
He explained how the problem plays out on the ground. When people are displaced and cut off from healthcare, case detection and contact tracing become more difficult. Access to care is also limited.
That pressure leaves the country in a difficult position. Maina said the DRC remains far from getting ahead of the outbreak, and he stressed that more support is needed.
He then pointed to one source of help. Maina highlighted China’s role in advancing South-South cooperation, citing its action plan with Africa through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
He praised specific parts of that effort. They include China’s work to train people in refugee-hosting areas, and its sharing of experience and technologies. These steps, he said, help countries respond to disease outbreaks and strengthen essential primary healthcare.
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His remarks link the immediate emergency to a longer-term argument about how health is funded. Strong primary care helps a country respond faster when an outbreak strikes, and that is why Maina presents health spending as a lasting commitment and not a passing cost.
Maina said, “We see health as an investment, not just as an expenditure.”
