How conflict in Congo, Sudan and Yemen is fueling the spread of disease
Whether fast-spreading cholera in Sudan and Yemen or the Ebola virus in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), outbreaks of disease tend to be especially
Whether fast-spreading cholera in Sudan and Yemen or the Ebola virus in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), outbreaks of disease tend to be especially deadly when they take hold amid armed conflict. D'zirava Lety sums up the hopelessness of her situation in just a few words: "There is no water. In the entire camp, there is only one tap. Another challenge is the lack of toilets. Children relieve themselves anywhere. With the disease that has arrived, we are being told to wash our hands, but there are no hygiene kits. And when we go into town to sell our products, people push us away, saying that we are carrying diseases." Lety lives with 20,000 other internally displaced people (IDPs) at the Kigonze camp on the outskirts of Bunia in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC). They fled the violence of the many rebel groups that have destabilized the region for decades. But now they face a new threat: Camp officials told DW that in June the Ebola virushad been detected for the first time amid people who had died. "Since Ebola arrived, we have been recording up to six deaths a day," said camp chairman Étienne Ndrutsi. How conflicts speed up the spread of disease The rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus has been circulating in the area since at least April, according to experts. Shortly after the outbreak was identified in May, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency. By mid-July, DRC had recorded 1,963 confirmed infections and 719 deaths, while neighboring Uganda reported 20 cases and two deaths. The WHO estimates, however, that only one in two cases — and maybe as few as one in four — is being detected.
Internally displaced people such as this man near Bunia are trying to make a living in the camps — but fears of Ebola put off potential customers Image: Xinhua/IMAGO In eastern DRC, ongoing armed conflict is hampering efforts to contain the outbreak. At the same time, the virus is able to spread more easily because people such as D'zirava Lety are living in overcrowded displacement camps or are forced to move from place to place, accelerating transmission. "Health workers, treatment centers, laboratories, ambulances, medical supply routes must always be protected from military interference and political competition," said Juste Codjo, a former officer in the Beninese army and a security researcher at Kean University in the US state of New Jersey. "International humanitarian law protects access to health care during armed conflicts, but the reality is that these legal obligations must be reinforced through practical negotiations with every actor controlling territory in the conflict zone," Codjo told DW. The overlap between conflict and disease is part of a larger global pattern. In war-torn Yemen, aid groups and authorities have spent the past decade battling recurring cholera outbreaks. Likewise, the cholera epidemic in Sudan, which has claimed more than 3,500 lives since 2024, has been linked to the country's ongoing civil war. This is partly due to warring parties severely restricting humanitarian access to outbreak response efforts. History also offers examples of approaches that can help halt the spread of disease. During the civil war in El Salvador (1980–92), the warring sides agreed on three one-day ceasefires to allow aid organizations to carry out safe vaccination campaigns against several childhood diseases.
The BriefWire