One in three people at the epicentre of the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) don't believe the virus is real – one of the many hurdles hampering efforts to contain the spread of cases.
The number of suspected deaths is at least 223, with the number of cases approaching 1,000, since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, although cases were likely spreading weeks before that. The military governor of Ituri province, the region at the centre of the outbreak, has likened the struggle to contain the spread of the virus as a "war," saying: "People in affected areas are not receiving enough food". He has called for a "swift response", including strengthening the capacity of staff to prevent Ituri "descending into catastrophe".
According to a rapid needs assessment conducted by ActionAid DRC across three health zones in Ituri, misinformation and denial remain widespread. Only 64 per cent of those asked believe Ebola is real and not linked to spiritual or mystical causes.
Ngone Ngobba Jean Claude, a resident of Lita, a village in Ituri, told ActionAid: “In the community, people can’t bring themselves to believe in this disease. Some call it a satanic disease, while others believe it was invented to make money. Others say that doctors are lying, while others believe that taking strong alcoholic drinks makes them immune [to infection].”
Aime Lotsove, a woman from Lita, added: “There are a lot of rumors here about diseases. Some say Ebola doesn’t exist, others say Ebola was created. I think what we could do for ourselves is to prevent this disease from coming here to our neighbourhood, because a cure is still not easy to find, but prevention is always better.”
Pierre Basola, a 56-year-old resident of Bunia, around 30 miles south of Lita, is one of those who is sceptical, despite health officials descending on the area and local authorities seeking to help residents. “These people should stop bothering us. They just want to get rich," he told the Associated Press. "Let’s not forget that Ebola is a white man’s invention,” Mr Basola said, who then added: “Stop talking to me anyway.”
Isaac, a teacher at Nyama Primary School in Lita, said, “Here, psychologically, we are very affected, very unsettled because as soon as one gets a headache, we think it might be the Ebola virus. Everywhere, we feel uneasy, both within our families and in the community. Everywhere, fear reigns.”
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said that it is "urgently scaling up operations" to contain the virus, given that the Bundibugyo type of Ebola virus responsible for the outbreak currently has no approved vaccine or treatment. But the WHO chief warned that "the epidemic is outpacing us" and he has called on neighbouring nations to take action, with cases having already been discovered in Uganda. The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Jean Kaseya, was even more pointed: “It’s so bad. It’s so bad.”
Aid cuts across the world has only made the response more difficult. US foreign assistance spending fell by nearly 57 per cent after the administration of Donald Trump dismantled the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) after the president returned to the White House for a second term last year, which had financed laboratory networks, disease surveillance programmes and emergency response capacity across the continent.
Earlier this month the administration began plans to divert a further $2 billion in global health funding to cover the costs of shutting USAID operations overseas.
Meanwhile, in the UK, billions of pounds are being cut from aid spending as the budget falls from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI),to fund increased defence spending.
Against that backdrop, the suspicion of local residents is not helping. Saani Yakubu, the Country Director of ActionAid DRC, said of the fears in communities across DRC: "We are not just fighting a deadly virus, we are fighting myths, fear and deep-seated suspicion".
"We are working hard to conduct awareness-raising sessions in the communities to debunk a lot of the myths and misinformation. These sessions are being held to help people better understand the risks, reduce fears and misinformation, as well as encourage protective behaviour in line with the guidelines provided,” he added.
This article has been produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project
