Santa Barbara, California, June 19 -- On Friday, a critical Direct Relief shipment of personal protective equipment, including 75,000 N95 respirators, arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo to help protect health workers on the frontlines of the current Ebola outbreak.

The shipment was delivered to Bunia, Ituri province, where the majority of cases have been recorded. The distribution to

frontline workers

is being coordinated by global health non-profit VillageReach and the National Public Health Institute of DRC's Ministry of Public Health.

VillageReach will train and mobilize 600 community health workers to support contact tracing, diagnostics, and other critical public health efforts needed to contain the spread of the virus....