What questions we should be asking about COVID-19 in humanitarian settings: perspectives from the Social Sciences Analysis Cell in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Simone Carter, Nina Gobat, Jérôme Pfaffmann Zambruni, Juliet Bedford, Esther van Kleef, Thibaut Jombart, Mathias Mossoko, Dorothée Bulemfu Nkakirande, Carlos Navarro Colorado, Steve Ahuka‐Mundeke
Abstract
COVID-19 is but one of many public health crises facing the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). On 25 June 2020, the DRC government announced the end of the country's largest Ebola outbreak on record and the second largest Ebola outbreak worldwide, a mere few weeks after a new outbreak (11th) started on 1 June 2020, in Mbandaka, Equateur Province.1 In 2019, measles claimed the lives of over 6000 people including 4500 children under the age of 5, malaria killed 17000 individuals, and cholera outbreaks affected 20 of 26 provinces, resulting in 31000 cases.