Ebola aid goes missing in DR Congo as MSF calls outbreak out of control

Médecins Sans Frontières says hundreds of millions of dollars pledged to fight Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo are simply not arriving where they're needed. The charity describes an outbreak that is still out of control, with a considerable disconnect between the money disbursed and what actually reaches patients, frontline workers and communities. In a new report, MSF says many responders are trying to contain the virus with empty hands and empty pockets.

The numbers behind the warning are brutal. Since the outbreak was declared in May, more than 5,400 people have died and 11,000 have been infected, making this the second deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded. MSF is calling on the Congolese government and UN agencies to tighten oversight and accountability so money already released is actually used — with staff trained, paid, equipped and supported, and resources sent where need is greatest.

MSF's report adds to alarm sounded last month by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which said $700m of $962m disbursed to Ebola response organisations was unaccounted for. Africa CDC chief Jean Kaseya said at the time it was too early to label it embezzlement, calling it a major transparency and financial reporting failure instead.

The charity's report lists healthcare workers going unpaid or untrained, ambulances sitting without fuel, and shortages of supplies for frontline staff. It also flags surveillance teams that exist on paper but are nowhere to be seen on the ground. MSF president Javid Abdelmoneim said his teams are often left speechless by the dysfunctions they witness, adding that six months into the response the situation is simply unacceptable.

Contact tracing — a key tool for stopping transmission — is in deep trouble, according to MSF, with two-thirds of deaths occurring in communities rather than treatment centres. British epidemiologist Neil Ferguson says more than half of cases are going undetected, meaning the outbreak will likely run for another year, Reuters reports. MSF also points to excessive concentration of effort in some places while others are neglected: the response was too slow in North Kivu and Haut-Uélé was dramatically overlooked.

In both provinces, MSF says teams were inadequately resourced, with health facilities missing basics like water, chlorine and triage systems. That, the charity warns, has turned some clinics into new centres of transmission rather than places of care that help contain the disease.