DR Congo Ebola Outbreak Highlights Need to Combat Distrust Alongside Virus

JOHANNESBURG (Yonhap News Agency) -- As Ebola continues to spread daily in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), experts have pointed out that health authorities must simultaneously address not only the virus but also the distrust and lack of understanding among residents.

According to Reuters on the 22nd (local time), Mohamed Yacoub Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa, emphasized the importance of building community trust in relation to the incident the previous day where residents of Rwampara, Ituri Province, DRC, set fire to tents at a treatment center, demanding the handover of the body of an Ebola victim.

Janabi said, "We are fighting on two fronts," adding, "We must fight not only the virus itself but also misinformation within the community."

He further stated, "Now is the time to put much greater effort into educating residents," and "There is too much misinformation on the ground, and it is a pandemic in itself."

Ebola expert Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) in the DRC, told Xinhua News Agency that "distrust of outsiders can weaken the response." He emphasized building trust between health authorities and residents, saying, "Residents believe instructions and measures when explained by someone from their own region, but they are suspicious when someone from the capital, Kinshasa, speaks."

Yesterday in Rwampara, the family and friends of a local football player, who is presumed to have died from Ebola, clashed with health authorities while demanding the immediate handover of the body for a funeral. They then set fire to tents set up for patient isolation and treatment within the Ebola treatment center, according to Xinhua News Agency, citing local police officials.

As a result, two tents with eight beds each were burned down, and there are concerns that some patients may have escaped the facility, the agency reported.

It is also known that some medical personnel were injured, including being beaten.

The confrontation was resolved only after the police fired warning shots, but the bereaved family and others claimed that the deceased had contracted typhoid, not Ebola, and expressed dissatisfaction with the authorities' refusal to release the body.

Currently, Ituri Province officially prohibits pre-funeral gatherings and the transportation of bodies using non-medical vehicles.

Funerals can only be conducted by specialized response teams, public gatherings are limited to a maximum of 50 people, and the local football league has been suspended.

This is because the Ebola virus is transmitted through bodily fluids such as the blood and vomit of infected individuals, and in this region where traditional funeral customs involve touching the body or clothing of the deceased while mourning, traditional funerals can become a major route for Ebola transmission.

Authorities believe that the initial spread of Ebola was also due to mourners touching the body after a deceased patient was brought from the capital Kinshasa to their hometown of Mongwalu for a funeral last month, before being confirmed as an Ebola case in Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province.

The rural villages of Ituri Province, about 1,000 kilometers from the capital Kinshasa, have received little support from the central government in areas such as health, which is cited as a factor fueling resentment towards strict quarantine measures.

During the Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC from 2018 to 2020, which killed about 2,300 people, residents and armed groups reportedly attacked health facilities hundreds of times in protest against containment measures.

International organizations and various countries have stepped in to support containment efforts by providing emergency funding to the DRC.

Tom Fletcher, UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, announced today that the UN will provide approximately $60 million (91 billion won) in emergency funds.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) also stated that it has provided a specialized team of 8 people and $1 million to Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province, for on-site response personnel and community support.

South Africa also donated $2.5 million to support the Ebola response.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) reported that volunteers are conducting home visits in Ebola outbreak epicenters such as Mongwalu to correct misinformation.

Gabriela Arenas, IFRC Regional Coordinator for Africa, said that some residents still believe misinformation that Ebola is fabricated, emphasizing, "Ebola outbreaks start and end within the community. Community participation is key to the response."