Cross Border Dynamics: Burundi-DRC

On 6 December 2018, at a UNICEF supported crèche in Beni, in the eastern DRC, Kavira Langa Jemima, an Ebola survivor, bathes 6 month old Josue, who's mother is undergoing treatment for Ebola. Those infected with Ebola have to be treated in isolation which means children whose parents are infected have to be separated from them. The children here are monitored for signs of the virus and receive daily medical checkups and nutritional assistance; but they also receive love, emotional and psychosocial support from women like Jemima who have been cured and are thus no longer susceptible to the disease. As at 11 December 2018, children now account for more than one third of the Ebola cases in affected regions of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UNICEF said today. The UN children’s agency also reported that one in ten Ebola cases is under five-years-old, while children who contract the Ebola virus are at higher risk of dying from the disease than adults. Continued efforts are needed to raise awareness of prevention methods and promote early access to treatment which dramatically improves survival rates. The impact of the disease on children goes beyond those who have been infected. When parents or caregivers with the disease are taken to treatment centres or pass away, some children are left on their own. UNICEF and its partners have so far identified more than 400 children who have been orphaned or left unaccompanied because of the virus. The growing number of separated children is linked to the high caseload of patients in the Ebola treatment centres of Beni and Butembo, the current epicentres of the disease. UNICEF provides Ebola-infected children, orphans and unaccompanied children with appropriate assistance, including nutritional care and psychosocial and educational support. Together with its partners, UNICEF has opened a kindergarten next to the Ebola treatment centre of Beni to assist the youngest children whose parents are isolated in the