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Congo-Kinshasa: Defeat Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

 


Mbandaka — Judy Mputu feels sick. He had a medical examination at the Ebola Treatment Center and tested positive for the virus. However, his visit was short-lived. He ran away from the facility. A few days later he was readmitted to the hospital. He ran away again. “I thought I would die,” he recalls.

The overwhelming fear of the disease among many in his neighborhood in Mbandaka, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Equateur, hits the country’s 11th Ebola, which surged in June 2020. Interfered with the response. However, it is often a fatal illness, and many people are wary of response teams working to stop the virus, while a lack of a clear understanding of the prevention and treatment of Ebola contributes to misunderstandings. I didn’t accept it.

“When people don’t have the right information, they’re reluctant,” said Dr. Molly Molly Keita, Ebola Incident Manager at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Ecatal. “In the community, Ebola is considered a serious and deadly danger. It causes fear and silence.”

Community resistance was one of the major challenges faced by the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the World Health Organization (WHO), and other partners during their response. Working with youth leaders and local governments has helped promote acceptance and help response teams reach affected communities. Young leaders visited door-to-door and persuaded those who were reluctant to seek treatment or obtain the Ebola vaccine, which provides highly effective protection.

For Muptu, the persuasion of youth leader Heritier Boranda was needed to return to the treatment center and stay until he was healed.

“Our job wasn’t easy. We had to sensitize a community that didn’t believe the illness was real,” Bolanda says, referring to his hotspot neighborhood in Mbandaka. .. “We monitored the cases, but importantly, we referred people with symptoms to a medical facility.”

Access to many areas was difficult, as the affected communities spanned 13 of Ecuador’s 18 health zones across large geographic areas. In addition to the vast distances, road movement remained restricted in densely forested areas, and some remote areas were only accessible by plane or boat.

Overcoming logistical challenges also meant decentralizing response, working closely with local healthcare professionals to set up response systems and making them effective at the local level.

Part of the strategy included an in-depth list of Ebola patient contacts by a local surveillance team. This allowed emergency response personnel to quickly evade the virus. “We were able to contain all cases within the area where it was reported, which helped limit the spread,” said an epidemiologist and member of the Mbandaka surveillance team. Dr. Jeremy Muhund Vutenga explains.