Kinshasa (AFP)

AIDS and measles are also threatening in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the Ebola epidemic has been the focus of attention for 14 months in the east of the country, said Wednesday two NGOs committed to the front of these three diseases.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called for "ambitious funding, especially from international donors (...) to stop the HIV epidemic" in the DRC.

MSF said in a statement Tuesday on the eve of a meeting of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Lyon (France).

A total of 17,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2018 in the DRC, where 450,000 people are living with HIV, according to UNAIDS figures.

This gives a prevalence rate of 0.8% among 15-49 year olds, which is much lower than in other sub-Saharan countries, especially in southern Africa.

"Only 57.7% of those infected have access to treatment in the country," MSF said in a statement.

In addition, 4,000 people have died from the measles epidemic since January 2019, for 203,179 cases, said the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). "Children under five account for 74% of infections and nearly 90%," said a statement.

UNICEF claims to have vaccinated "more than 1.4 million children", but "that millions of Congolese children do not receive routine immunization and do not have access to health care when they become ill ".

"The DRC government is preparing to launch its next national follow-up immunization campaign on October 22, which aims to immunize children aged 6 months to 5 years against measles in each province," said Unicef.

Declared August 1 in North Kivu province, the Ebola outbreak has made 2,142 deaths, according to a latest count on Monday, October 7. In recent days, the epidemic has stalled with fewer new cases proven daily (one for the day of October 6). More than 1,000 people - 1,006 - have survived the epidemic, and welcome the actors in the Ebola response.

The DRC has also suffered from a cholera epidemic. Malaria is endemic: 18 million cases and 18,000 deaths in 2018, according to estimates of the former Minister of Health, Oly Ilunga, earlier this year.

© 2019 AFP