Ebola in DRC: GEC calls for support for the national health system

A woman and her child awaiting vaccination against the Ebola virus, in Goma, August 5, 2019. REUTERS / Baz Ratner / File Photo

Text by: Sonia Rolley Follow

6 min

What lessons can be learned from the 10th Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

The Congo Study Group, a research center at New York University, released on Thursday the first part of a series of reports that will take stock of this response to what has been described as global health emergency.

This 10th epidemic was declared on August 1, 2018 in the east of the country and lasted nearly 2 years.

The GEC examines the quality of the medical response: "Parallel health system, perverse effect of the response" is the title of this report.

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Officially, to isolate the possible and confirmed cases of Ebola and to allow them to have appropriate care, the actors of the response have all created temporary structures, mostly built with tarpaulins and reclaimed wood, run by staff sometimes coming from other provinces or countries, creating a feeling of "foreignness".

The GEC notes that these actors, including the State, never believed that the Congolese health system was able to cope or even did not deserve the investments necessary to ensure the response.

This is what reinforced the

.

For example, patients who presented symptoms of Ebola were physically removed from health structures, hospitals or centers in which they had placed their trust.

Or, once they were "suspected cases", they could spend several days in transit centers, very poorly equipped, with poor diagnostic capacity and few drugs, only to end up with a negative test.

The treatment centers, them, inspired fear, further notes this American research center.

In North Kivu, they were called "final act" or "death".

Mistakes have also been made in raising awareness about the disease itself, vaccination campaigns or even safe burials.

By making this epidemic a global health emergency, according to the GEC, it ended up creating a feeling among the population that reaching “zero cases” was more important than ensuring their well-being.

Epidemic and cycle of violence

The creation of this parallel health system contributed to the cycle of violence that surrounded the management of this epidemic, explains Jason Stearns, director of the GEC.

The response with its great haste to move quickly to face the Ebola epidemic created mistrust among the population which began a vicious circle which created violence: attacks against the response which then militarized the retaliation, which further reinforced this mistrust and so on.

Jason Stearns, Director of the Congo Study Group (GEC)

Sonia rolley

► See also: DRC: official end of the Ebola epidemic in the east of the country

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• DRC

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