DR Congo: efforts to control Ebola epidemic continue, UN food relief agency doubles assistance to affected people.

With Ebola accelerating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Friday that it plans to scale up and double food assistance to people affected by the disease.

One-year after the beginning of the complex outbreak in the volatile eastern part of the DRC - and ten days since the 'alarming confirmation of a first case in Goma, the region's biggest city, with some two million people' - WFP's Spokesperson Herve Verhoosel said that the UN agency is 'stepping up preparations for a potential further escalation of the epidemic'.

Over the next six months, WFP will nearly double its food assistance and nutritional support to 440,000 Ebola-affected people in DR Congo, Mr. Verhoosel announced, adding that this would include 'primarily contacts of victims and their families, as well as confirmed and suspected cases'.

According to estimates, expected new contacts are at roughly 50 per case, which equals a total of 75,000 contacts in the next five months.

Speaking to journalists in Geneva, he said that given the challenges of 'tracing contacts in the conflict zone that is eastern DRC, food distributions are key to the containment effort, helping as they do to limit the movement of people who could spread the disease, and to the vital vaccination drive'.

Since WFP distributions are carried out at agreed sites for 'contacts' of Ebola-affected people, families receive one-week rations, encouraging them to come back to the distribution site where they can also receive a medical check-up at least once per week, over the course of 28 days.

Ebola campaign in support of frontline responders

WFP's regional response also includes efforts to expand the fleet of aircraft dedicated to the Ebola campaign, in support of frontline responders, including UN agencies and NGO personnel.

Mr. Verhoosel said that 'with popular mistrust of responders still widespread and hampering containment, WFP is...