Health workers on Wednesday launched a door-to-door, four-day blitz to control malaria in Democratic Republic of Congo with the aim of cutting suspected Ebola cases in half.
"It will make things a lot easier if malaria is taken out of the equation," Stefan Hoyer of the World Health Organization said by phone from Beni, epicenter of the Ebola outbreak.
The town of Beni in North Kivu province, currently battling the worst Ebola outbreak in Congo's history, has also seen an eight-fold increase in malaria cases since last year.