More than 300 children have died since the start of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with children accounting for nearly a quarter of confirmed cases but almost a third of all fatalities, the United Nations said Friday. The outbreak, centred on Ituri province in eastern DRC, has now surpassed 4,000 total cases and 1,850 deaths, while fear of infection has caused use of health services to fall by more than 40 percent in the worst-affected areas — contributing to a near-doubling of maternal deaths in Ituri, with roughly six women dying each week from childbirth-related complications. The World Health Organization has called for an urgent expansion of community-led response efforts, and a clinical trial of the Ervebo vaccine — the only licensed Ebola vaccine — has been recommended to test its effectiveness against the Bundibugyo strain driving the outbreak.