The outbreak, centered in the opposition stronghold of the DRC, continues to spread as rumors undermine the effectiveness of treatment and health care.
In addition to combating a lethal virus, health workers are having to dispel rumors that the disease is manufactured and that the millions of dollars spent on the response are part of a money-making scheme derisively referred to as the “Ebola business.”
Anifa Vahavi is a demographic researcher working in Butembo, which is one of the worst-affected areas. Some people in Butembo even believe that"when you go there they inject you with the disease," according to Vahavi, 30, who collects data for a Congolese nonprofit.The Ebola outbreak is also taking place in a part of the country that has suffered regular violence at the hands of armed groups. Health workers have increasingly come under threat, causing further setbacks to the emergency response.
, adding “the use of security forces and police only deepens the suspicion of those who believe Ebola is being used as a political tool.” That has triggered rumors that the government was behind the outbreak — either infecting opposition communities with the virus or exaggerating its spread — to allow Kabila's choice of a successor to win at the polls, Clark said.Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga recently returned from a visit to the affected area of Butembo and told NBC News that"community mistrust" had even been fueled by candidates running for office.
Eva Erlach, who heads the regional community engagement program for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the organization has procured transparent body bags for the first time “to show the family that it is actually their loved one that is being buried and it’s not stones or empty coffins.
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