Christian non-profit organisation Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), which has been working in Nyankunde in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus, has temporarily relocated its operations to Uganda owing to a positive test of the virus in December. The team expects to return to their Nyankunde base later this month if the case is isolated.

Emergency relief flights by MAF are continuing from other airstrips. Since 7 August 2018 the Christian aviation ministry has conducted 24 Ebola-related flights with 99 passengers and close to eight tons (7,211 kgs) of cargo. MAF has been transporting vaccines, medical personnel and supplies and sanitation equipment into the North Kivu province of DRC to stem an outbreak.

Programme manager Jon Cadd says the temporary relocation has created some logistical challenges to operations but adds that his organisation is determined to prevail: “MAF has been responding to Ebola outbreaks for many years and has a wealth of experience in this area. We have an Ebola pathogen management plan that we follow to protect staff and minimise the risk of transmitting the virus. We know that Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids or from eating infected bush meat and contacting fluids from infected animals. We use strict protocols for handling patient samples that we deliver for testing and to clean our aircraft to keep staff and passengers safe.”

Due to the vast distances between remote villages, jungle terrain that makes overland travel difficult and communal violence in one of the country's most populated provinces, air travel provided by MAF is one of the quickest and most efficient means of delivering supplies and people to Ebola-impacted areas.

The DRC, along with the World Health Organisation and other medical groups, is battling this most recent outbreak of Ebola in the northeast part of the country. According to WHO, the number of deaths has reached 377 out of 625 reported cases for this outbreak. This is the ninth outbreak of the virus in the DRC since the disease was discovered in 1976.