Families Battle to Feed Themselves As Ebola Spreads

Efforts to combat Ebola as the deadly disease has expanded across borders - UN said on Friday.

Families facing Ebola in part of African province has a population of over 105 million, protecting themselves from the virus can also mean losing the means to feed their children, according to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP).

“The outbreak currently has spread reaching to some communities already under immense pressure,” David Stevenson, the WFP's DRC country director, said during a UN press conference.

“As it spreads, hunger continues to undermine the measures needed to contain it.” It became the fifth country to detect the virus since the DRC declared an outbreak on May 15.

The spread of the disease comes as agencies fighting the escalating Ebola virus in DRC constantly battle to win the trust of local communities, according to international groups in the field calling for the protection of health workers.

Stevenson said that the WFP has two critical roles: helping families seek care without sacrificing food and providing the logistics backbone that keeps the wider response moving.

“Without sustained support, we risk leaving families unable to follow health guidance when it matters most.”

The WFP official explained that in Ituri’s Mungbwalu, the epicentre of the outbreak, Francine Birungi Amoti has lost a child to Ebola.“She is raising her six surviving children and another baby entrusted to her care. Violence has cut her off from her fields.

“She told me, ‘If you go, you may not even return alive, and I do not have money to buy food at the local market. So we stay at home, and WFP helps us enormously.’”

For Francine, food assistance means feeding the children in her care when reaching her fields could cost her life.

'INSECURITY AND HUNGER'

“This is what a crisis on top of a crisis looks like: disease and bereavement, compounded by insecurity and hunger,” said Stevenson.

He also cited the case in North-Kivu’s Butembo, where Isabelle Kyakimwa arrived at an Ebola treatment centre without strength.

“As she recovered, she told us: ‘Food is important for us as patients because it helps us regain the strength to keep going.’Her words show what food assistance brings to a treatment centre: regular, safe, nutritious meals that support recovery, dignity, and continuity of care.

“Food does not treat Ebola. Medical teams do,” said Stevenson.

“But their work takes place amid severe food insecurity and continued violence that repeatedly displaces families, destroys livelihoods and complicates access to care.”

He said food assistance is vital to supporting patients through that care and that WFP needs $115 million over the next six months, including $79 million for hot meals and dry rations.

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