IOM urges Ebola surveillance beyond formal routes in DR Congo

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) urged wider Ebola surveillance beyond formal checkpoints in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 10 November. According to news.un.org, IOM said 95% of 71 confirmed cases detected along transit routes since the outbreak began were found on informal routes.

The warning concerns how responders find infections as people travel. IOM says its regional operations need $110 million through March 2027 and are nearly $60 million short.

• IOM said the 71 transit-route cases were detected at points of entry and control; 95% were on routes bypassing official checkpoints.
• The agency maps gathering places and travel corridors to help direct response staff and resources.
• Government data reported by Reuters put the wider DRC outbreak at 11,042 confirmed cases and at least 5,387 deaths as of figures released on 10 November.

Why IOM is tracking informal travel routes

Mbala said most people transporting the bodies of Ebola victims also use informal routes; 258 bodies had been intercepted. He urged responders to expand controls to cover informal routes instead of concentrating on formal crossings. Since the outbreak began, IOM teams have conducted 55 million screenings in the DRC and 11 neighbouring countries. The agency supports surveillance at 57 displacement sites in the DRC, 50 of them in health zones affected by the outbreak.

The outbreak’s scale and response constraints

Reuters reported that government figures released on 10 November recorded 11,042 confirmed cases and at least 5,387 deaths in the DRC. Those totals cover the wider outbreak; IOM’s 71 figure counts confirmed cases detected along transit routes, and the reports do not reconcile the separate measures. Reuters said the outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain and has affected eight of the country’s 26 provinces.

Reuters said many deaths had occurred outside treatment centres, while delayed detection, conflict and strained health services had contributed to faster spread than in previous outbreaks. It described the outbreak as the second-largest and second-deadliest on record, behind the 2014–2016 West African epidemic, which infected more than 28,600 people and killed more than 11,000. The Bundibugyo strain kills about half of those it infects, and no vaccine or treatment has been developed specifically for it, Reuters reported.

What it means

For people moving through affected areas and communities near informal routes, IOM’s approach is to identify movement patterns and direct response capacity toward places people gather and travel. The agency’s reported funding gap puts its regional operations under financial strain; the reports do not identify which activities or locations could face reductions.

The World Health Organization approved clinical trials of two new Ebola vaccines earlier in November, with results expected in early 2027, Reuters reported. The trials are a separate development; Reuters said no vaccine or treatment had been developed specifically for the Bundibugyo strain.