{"id":29861,"date":"2026-06-09T16:46:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/building-trust-and-lab-testing-at-the-heart-of-drc-ebola-response-who\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T16:46:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:46:52","slug":"building-trust-and-lab-testing-at-the-heart-of-drc-ebola-response-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/building-trust-and-lab-testing-at-the-heart-of-drc-ebola-response-who\/","title":{"rendered":"Building trust and lab testing at the heart of DRC Ebola response: WHO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The fast-moving outbreak, which has also spread to neighbouring Uganda, is caused by the rare and deadly Bundibugyo strain of\u202fthe Ebola<\/a>\u202fvirus. WHO<\/a>\u2019s Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations Director, Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, told reporters in Geneva that as of 8 June in DRC, there have been 550 confirmed cases and 101 deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news [is], we have 19 cumulative recovered patients, so early identification and treatment save lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking from Bunia in Ituri Province, which accounts for 94 per cent of total cases in the country, Dr Mahamud explained that the rise in confirmed cases \u201cis due to the scale-up of testing\u201d. More decentralized labs have opened to accelerate analysis of suspected Ebola samples, including a fully functional facility in Mongbwalu, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Uganda has reported 19 confirmed cases including two deaths<\/strong>, as well as one probable individual who has died. WHO<\/a> said that there is no evidence of community transmission in Uganda so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Remote chance<\/h2>\n

In DRC as of 6 June, 5,040 contacts had been\u00a0identified\u00a0and were under follow-up across\u00a0Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.\u00a0The ramp-up in contact tracing has enabled health workers to reach 62 per cent of the contacts so far, with hopes of reaching the 90 to 95 per cent target \u201cin the coming weeks\u201d, Dr Mahamud said. He described making \u201cslow and steady progress\u201d based on building trust and working with the community.<\/p>\n

The WHO official stressed that local healthcare workers play an essential role in early identification and referral of cases to treatment centres. He described the current set-up as \u201ca well-functioning system that\u2019s integrated from surveillance to contact tracing to the treatment centre and to the lab\u201d, along with efficient data sharing.<\/p>\n

Still, major challenges remain, including in remote locations with limited connectivity, from where samples may take eight hours to reach a lab.<\/p>\n

\u201cIturi is as big as France,\u201d Dr Mahamud said. \u201cIf you are in Bunia, you can get your result in one or two hours\u201d, whereas for places further away from testing facilities, the process can take 24 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a positive development, in remote Aru close to the Ugandan border, where samples have to travel for 10 hours by road for testing, a lab will be operational by Friday, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far WHO has set up field laboratories in five affected areas to enable testing closer to the\u00a0epicentre\u00a0of the outbreak.\u00a0Working with partners in support of Government-led efforts, the UN health agency has deployed over 100 personnel to the DRC, delivered\u00a040\u00a0tonnes of equipment and medical supplies, and helped set up Ebola treatment\u00a0centres.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fast-moving outbreak, which has also spread to neighbouring Uganda, is caused by the rare and deadly Bundibugyo strain of\u202fthe Ebola\u202fvirus. WHO\u2019s Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations Director, Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, told reporters in Geneva that as of 8 June in DRC, there have been 550 confirmed cases and 101 deaths.\u00a0 \u201cThe good news […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11611],"tags":[5685,20107,17873,2851,20106,1644,10445,12203],"class_list":["post-29861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spyballoon-global-news","tag-building","tag-drc","tag-ebola","tag-heart","tag-lab","tag-response","tag-testing","tag-trust"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",230,230,false],"kava-thumb-m":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",400,400,false],"kava-thumb-m-vertical":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",370,500,false],"kava-thumb-m-2":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",570,450,false],"kava-thumb-l":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",1170,650,false],"kava-thumb-xl":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.jpg",1920,1080,false],"kava-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Collections\/Production%20Library\/2026\/06\/05-06-2026-WHO-DR-Congo-ebola-03.jpg\/image770x420cropped.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GLOBAL NEWS<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"The fast-moving outbreak, which has also spread to neighbouring Uganda, is caused by the rare and deadly Bundibugyo strain of\u202fthe Ebola\u202fvirus. WHO\u2019s Health Emergency Alert and Response Operations Director, Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, told reporters in Geneva that as of 8 June in DRC, there have been 550 confirmed cases and 101 deaths.\u00a0 \u201cThe good news…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29863,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29861\/revisions\/29863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}