Congo: At least a dozen attacks on health facilities and health workers have been recorded during Congo’s Ebola outbreak, authorities said on Saturday, as security concerns and a strike by frontline staff over unpaid salaries continue to disrupt response efforts in the worst-affected region.
The outbreak has been described as the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record, with 2,181 cases, including 864 deaths, reported so far.
Officials said the Bundibugyo virus behind the outbreak is less common than other strains that cause Ebola disease, and there is no approved vaccine or treatment. The deteriorating security situation has also forced some health and aid workers to leave remote hotspots and relocate to Bunia, which is considered relatively safer.
Pierre Akilimali, incident manager for the Ebola response, said many attacks were carried out by angry mobs that stormed treatment centres or targeted response teams in the field.
The attacks have also affected other frontline teams, including burial workers, according to Dr Adelard Lufongola, operations manager for the Ebola response.
“Members of the various response teams have been held captive in some health zones. Teams responsible for safe and dignified burials have been threatened and continue to be threatened in some cemeteries and within several communities,” Lufongola said at a briefing in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.
Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and through contaminated surfaces and materials. Restrictions on traditional funerals, where relatives wash and prepare bodies, have angered some residents.
Ituri accounts for about 90 per cent of all cases, and locals told AP that health and aid workers have been leaving remote communities in recent days and moving to Bunia.
On Thursday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that humanitarian actors were “deeply concerned by escalating violence” affecting the Ebola response.
“The worsening security situation has forced several humanitarian partners involved in the Ebola response to temporarily relocate staff to Bunia which is relatively safer,” he said.
The latest recorded attack took place on Wednesday, when residents in Nyakunde attacked a hospital and came into contact with a nearby Ebola treatment centre.
“I fear that the aid workers involved in combating this Ebola outbreak are going to leave the area. This risks making the task of eradicating the outbreak more difficult,” said Christophe Munyanderu, a civil society leader in Ituri’s Irumu territory.
