The IRC has begun construction of six health centers and two maternity wards in Congo's southern province of Kasai Occidental, which recently suffered an Ebola virus epidemic. The $400,000 project, which also includes the rehabilitation of existing health facilities in Kasai, is the IRC's biggest construction project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"The project will help some 65,000 people gain access to quality primary health care," said Fergus Thomas, the IRC's provincial coordinator in Kasai.

On October 8, the foundations were laid for the health centers in the towns of Tshinyama and Luboya. Each facility will include a health center hall, a sanitary block with latrines and showers, an incinerator, a septic tank, a rainwater collection system and a rehabilitated water source. According to Pablo Mompie, construction coordinator in the IRC's field office in the provincial capital Kananga, even obtaining basic supplies, such as concrete, is a major challenge in Kasai Occidental.

"But with our good partnership with the ministry of health and a high level of community participation, we will be able to complete this," Mompie said. "It will have a real impact on reducing the number of deaths in these villages."

The construction project, funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development, is part of a project which is building health facilities in Kasai Occidental, Orientale, and South Kivu provinces. The project will also make treatment free for patients by donating medicine and providing health staff. The project is expected to help over one million people receive better health care.

The project follows the IRC's emergency response in Kasai Occidental, which recently experienced an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus and a recurrence of endemic typhoid. Médecins Sans Frontiers (MSF or Doctors Without Borders) said this week that the Ebola crisis has ended with no new cases in the past three weeks. Still, the IRC will continue to work with the Ministry of Health and partner organizations, including MSF, to address ongoing needs in affected areas.