DR Congo unable to contain Ebola virus
Print Edition
Efforts to curb the Democratic Republic of Congo鈥檚 worst Ebola outbreak are stumbling, medical charity MSF warned yesterday, blaming the role of the security forces in the response and their 鈥渢oxic鈥 relations with local communities.
Seven months into the outbreak, 鈥渢he Ebola response is failing to bring the epidemic under control,鈥 Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement. It highlighted that more than 40 percent of deaths are occurring in communities rather than in Ebola treatment centers.
鈥淭hat means that we have not reached them and they have not sought our care,鈥 MSF chief Joanne Liu said.
The outbreak emerged in North Kivu last August and then spread to neighboring Ituri province. It has claimed 561 lives out of 894 recorded cases, according to the latest DRC health ministry figures. Security in eastern DRC, a region rampant with rebel fighters, has complicated the response.
Liu warned that growing reliance on the security services to bring people to treatment centers was spurring hostility. 鈥淭he existing atmosphere can only be described as toxic,鈥 she said, adding that this 鈥渟hows how the response has failed to listen and act on the needs of those most affected.鈥
Activities suspended
Her comments came after MSF suspended its activities at two treatment centers in North Kivu after the sites were attacked. 鈥淓bola responders are increasingly seen as the enemy,鈥 Liu said.
In the past month alone, she said, there had been more than 30 attacks and incidents involving elements of the Ebola response.
An attack by gunmen on one of the centers last week in Butembo forced its temporary closure, but the health ministry said on Monday that the center would reopen.
It said repairs would begin on the center in Katwa, North Kivu, which was set ablaze on the night of February 24.
鈥淪ome local health staff have told us that they live in fear of being associated with the response,鈥 Liu said, stressing that 鈥渢he use of coercion adds fuel to this.鈥
鈥淯sing police to force people into complying with health measures is not only unethical. It is totally counterproductive,鈥 she said.
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