 |
| Ebola diagnosis, through overcrowded displacement camps/photo/Front |
Health authorities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are facing mounting obstacles in their efforts to contain the country’s latest Ebola outbreak after residents at a displacement camp rejected the diagnosis of two women who died from the virus, preventing health workers from tracing potentially infected contacts.
The Kpangba displacement camp, home to about 30,000 people displaced by years of intercommunal violence, became the first camp in the affected region to record Ebola-related deaths. However, instead of allowing emergency response teams to investigate, angry residents forced health workers from the site, insisting the victims had not died from Ebola.
“We are still unable to follow up on the contacts of these cases,” Jean-Claude Lonzama, chief doctor of the Nizi health zone, told Reuters. The inability to identify and monitor people exposed to the virus has significantly increased concerns that transmission chains may continue undetected.
Health officials from the provincial health ministry, the World Health Organization and humanitarian organizations had rushed to the camp after the deaths, hoping to isolate contacts before the virus could spread further. Their efforts stalled when local residents refused to cooperate, reflecting deep mistrust of government authorities and international health workers.
The situation has left officials with limited visibility into the outbreak as they attempt to contain infections in one of eastern Congo’s most densely populated displacement areas. According to Lonzama, the Nizi health zone includes 22 camps sheltering more than 81,000 displaced people, many of whom live in overcrowded conditions with limited sanitation facilities.
“We have 22 displaced persons sites in the Nizi health zone with around 81,124 residents,” Lonzama said. “This is our greatest concern because no preventive measures have been implemented in these sites apart from a few awareness campaigns.”
The latest outbreak was declared one month ago and has already encountered repeated setbacks. Several Ebola treatment facilities have reportedly come under attack by residents frustrated over strict burial protocols or convinced that the disease is not real.
Public health experts warn that displacement camps present ideal conditions for Ebola transmission. Hundreds of residents often share a single toilet, while open defecation remains common in many locations, creating an environment where infectious diseases can spread rapidly.
The three provinces affected by the outbreak — Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu — are already struggling with one of the world’s largest displacement crises. More than 5 million people have fled decades of armed conflict, leaving humanitarian agencies under increasing pressure to respond to multiple emergencies simultaneously.
Health workers say mistrust remains one of the biggest barriers to controlling the outbreak. Across eastern Congo, rumors and misinformation continue to undermine public confidence, making contact tracing, testing and isolation significantly more difficult.
The violence recalls the deadly 2018-20 Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, when dozens of treatment centers were attacked and more than 25 health workers lost their lives while responding to the epidemic.
According to a Congolese health ministry report reviewed by Reuters, the first victim in Kpangba, a 60-year-old woman, tested positive for Ebola on May 30 but escaped quarantine before health officials could complete isolation procedures. Authorities were unable to locate her before she later died, raising concerns that additional infections may have occurred before her death.
The two fatalities occurred on May 31 and June 1 but were publicly disclosed only after the U.N. refugee agency referenced the cases in a report released Thursday.Medical officials fear that continued resistance, combined with ongoing armed conflict and shortages of critical medical equipment, could severely hamper efforts to contain the outbreak. Without community cooperation and effective contact tracing, they warn, eastern Congo faces a growing risk that Ebola could spread more widely through vulnerable displaced populations.