More than five months after the outbreak began, the Ebola crisis in the DRC is still not under control. Nearly 10,000 people have been infected, half of whom have died. A VRT NWS team is in the worst-affected area with Médecins Sans Frontières, which is warning that there is no end in sight to the epidemic without further aid.
Foreign News
Ebola outbreak in DRC: ‘Without extra aid, I can’t see an end to this epidemic’
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A new Ebola epidemic broke out in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 15 May. The epicentre is now in North Kivu, in the east of the country. More than 9,000 people have fallen ill; more than 4,500 have died. A number of cases have also been reported in Kenya.
Between 2014 and 2016, 11,300 people died in West Africa after contracting the virus. But this outbreak is on course to break all records.
There is as yet no vaccine against the new variant in the DRC, the Bundibugyo virus. According to the African health agency, the CDC, this is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history.
You see doctors and nurses risking their lives and patients fighting for their lives
VRT NWS has travelled to the affected area. “It was a long journey. We were on the road for three days,” says journalist Stijn Vercruysse. He is in Butembo, North Kivu province, with his team, Patrick Moons and Ruben Vandamme.
They attended the funeral of a one-year-old girl who died from the effects of an Ebola infection. They also visited treatment centres, where aid workers are doing all they can to save those infected.
“They are very well equipped there. People are being cared for behind glass, and aid workers wear thick yellow suits. It leaves a deep impression every time,” says Vercruysse. “You see doctors and nurses risking their lives and patients fighting for their lives. You can literally smell death there.”
Most treatment centres are run by Médecins Sans Frontières. They are feeling the mounting pressure of the epidemic, which is continuing to spread. “There are too few aid organisations in Butembo and even fewer in the surrounding areas,” says Stephanie Hoffmann of MSF.
Due to a lack of capacity and resources, some Ebola patients end up among other patients in hospital while they wait for a bed to become available, risking the virus spreading even further. “If more help doesn’t arrive, I can’t see an end to this epidemic,” Hoffmann warns.
The VRT NWS team accompanied aid workers as they travelled through the affected area to warn people and combat misinformation. “They are trying to quash rumours, such as the rumour that Ebola is being injected into people at the treatment centres,” Vercruysse says.
In addition, aid workers are doing all they can to encourage people to stop shaking hands and to touch as little as possible. This requires a major cultural shift.
“At the child’s funeral, men were seen wearing suits and the coffin was not to be touched,” Vercruysse says. “That’s how funerals are now held in Congo – very different from what they are used to.”