Fighting Epidemics in Complex Emergencies: The Ebola Crisis Response and Recovery through Safety Nets and Community Engagement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
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Challenge
From August 2018 to June 2019, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) fought the second largest Ebola outbreak in history. It took place amid overlapping crises including food insecurity, massive forced displacement, and persistent armed conflict. With a total of 3,420 cases, the outbreak claimed 2,287 lives in 29 health zones across the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. These hosted 8.5 million poor people, including 6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, thus stretching traditional coping mechanisms to the limit.