The number is exact, and it is devastating: 135 children in Ituri Province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, have lost one or both parents to Ebola. As the global confirmed case count crossed 1,000 this week, UNICEF issued its sharpest warning yet — an estimated 2.95 million children and adolescents across 31 affected health zones are now at risk, not only from the virus itself but from the collapse of the basic services they depend on to survive. Children and adolescents currently account for roughly 15 per cent of confirmed Ebola cases in eastern DRC, but they represent more than 25 per cent of confirmed deaths.

That gap is not a coincidence. Children and adolescents with confirmed Ebola are nearly twice as likely to die as infected adults — a statistic that UNICEF attributes partly to the region's existing crises. In Ituri, more than half of children under five are chronically malnourished, and over one in five have never received a first dose of the standard diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine. Malnutrition weakens immune defences, while Ebola's early symptoms — fever, fatigue, body aches — can be mistaken for malaria, delaying diagnosis until it is too late.

The epicentre sits in Ituri's Mongbwalu, Rwampara, and Bunia health zones, with additional cases reported in North Kivu and South Kivu. Armed conflict and restricted access continue to hamper contact tracing and surveillance, meaning current figures may undercount the true scale.