300 Attacks On Ebola Health Workers In DR Congo This Year

300 Attacks On Ebola Health Workers In DR Congo This Year
A burial team is lowering the body of a suspected Ebola victim into a grave in a new cemetery. The burial site was opened on 23 December 2014 in the Disco Hill district to ensure that Ebola victims from Monrovia and the surrounding counties could be buried in a safe and dignified way. The cemetery is a much needed addition to the region since many Liberians were not seeking treatment or informing about the death of loved ones out of fear, their bodies would be cremated - a practice to which many Liberians are opposed out of cultural reasons. Global Communities, in partnership with the USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Government of Liberia secured the land for the site which is located less than an hour from Monrovia. The site includes Muslim and Christian sections, a temporary morgue, structures for administrative functions, sufficient parking space and an isolated disinfection area. Eventually the 25-acre site will have the capacity to accommodate 13,000 individual graves. While Global Communities is managing the site and continuing construction during the initial phase, management will be fully transitioned to the Government of Liberia when the construction is completed and the virus is under control, There are now 5 burial teams and disinfection teams working at the burial ground. They manage all aspects of dead body management and are trained in the same World Health Organization (WHO) methodology and standards as other burial teams around the country. Disco Hill, Liberia, on 26 January 2015 Photo: UNMEER/Martine Perret
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Health workers battling an Ebola outbreak in DR Congo have been attacked 300 times, leaving six dead and 70 wounded since the start of the year in three provinces, authorities said on Monday.
The Democratic Republic of Congo declared an Ebola epidemic in August 2018 in the conflict-wracked eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, bordering Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

The highly contagious fever has so far killed 2,185 people, according to the latest official figures, but health workers have faced attacks and threats.

The latest attack occurred in the early hours of Sunday after a Congolese radio host, who helped spread information in the fight against Ebola, was stabbed to death at his home in the Ituri region.

In April, a Cameroonian doctor from the World Health Organization (WHO), was shot dead in an attack on a hospital in North Kivu province.

A report from the Congolese health ministry said since January 1, 2019, there had been “more than 300 attacks on health workers” which had killed six people and injured 70 others, among them health care workers and patients.

Read Also: Congolese Anti- Ebola Fighter Killed In Home Attack

The report also warned “each attack delays” efforts to fight Ebola as it prevents teams having to access the population to carry out planned interventions.

“In any case, the response team will continue to fight this disease with the involvement of communities and the affected population, including the support of all partners involved,” authorities said.

Efforts to roll back the epidemic have been hampered not only by fighting but also by resistance within communities to preventative measures, care facilities and safe burials.

It is the DRC’s 10th Ebola epidemic and the second deadliest on record after an outbreak that struck West Africa in 2014-16, claiming more than 11,300 lives.

BBC NEWS

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