I had thought that it was something that spread to the banana trees. But when I woke up surrounded by people in weird costumes so I knew that I really had ebola.
Desange Batumirwatu, 45, had sought treatment for malaria at the local dispensary but suddenly became worse and lost soon as the mind is. First, a week later she would re-wake up – unless she has not forgotten the moments of presence during the most intense stage.
several weeks of care before she could be written out, fully recovered from an illness which to date has claimed the lives of 598 lives in an outbreak that scourged the eastern Congo since last July.
Desange Batumirwatu sought care for malaria, but it turned out that she was infected by ebola, a disease that she previously thought was something that only affected banana trees. Photo: Paul Hansen
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The first known outbreak in the world of ebola took place in the town of Yambuku in the central Congo, the former river basin, 1976. Total infected 318 people in this outbreak, which until last year was the worst in Congo’s history. Now has 951 people affected – almost three times as many – and the mortality rate remains high, over 60 per cent. This despite the fact that science has made enormous progress since the 1970s.
the mistrust that characterized the relationship between locals and aid workers since the outbreak start sometime in July of last year. The congo has a long experience of fighting ebola, but the disease has never before taken place in this war-torn corner of the country, which is located 170 km from the capital city Kinshasa. The operation is being hampered by constant attacks from the rebels in the area, and of the civilian population who in many cases have stormed the establishments where patients are cared for.
– this illness is linked to violence in the area, it has the same origin. There are people who simply don’t like us, residents in the Kivu provinces, ” says the tailor Morice, who has a shop a stone’s throw from the clinic where Desange Batumirwatu was being treated.
has political overtones, and this applies not least to vaccinkampanjen that according to figures from the Congolese ministry of health has now reached nearly 90,000 people.
the Tailor Morice in the town of Beni in eastern Congo are skeptical of the vaccination campaign which has now reached 90,000 people in Congo. He believes that the vaccine is going to kill inhabitants in the province of North kivu province in a few years. Photo: Paul Hansen
– the Vaccine will create problems later. In a few years we will see people die because of it, ” says Morice.
the Vaccine was developed during the 2014 dramatic outbreak in west africa and given to health workers and to people who have had direct or indirect contact with infected – so-called ringvaccinering. It has greatly contributed to that mortality is significantly lower among health care staff. But the dilemma in the Congo is the large number who never seek care without hiding infected relatives in their homes.
” People need to start listening to what the doctors and nurses say. It is such a terrible disease and we must do what we can to stop it, ” says Desange Batumirwatu.
in order to go into the clinic in Beni, where she can provide psychological support and human contact to the other affected. The people who are infected but survive ebola build up immunity against the disease and do not need the same protective equipment as other staff.
in the Past, she has been helpful in the contact between authorities and inhabitants in the native village that is located a few kilometers northwest of Beni.
– There are rumors that scares people away. I have traveled to my village in the company of doctors and nurses who informed the villagers and we have also invited the leaders to the clinic for them to see what is going on. Previously, they have only seen the clinics based on and believed that ”it is a place where people are dying,” says Batumirwatu.
Desange Batumirwatu sought care for malaria, but it turned out that she was infected by ebola, a disease that she previously thought was something that only affected banana trees. Photo: Paul Hansen
built up by Doctors without borders, MSF. The organisation has taken a break from work and a minor war of words has flared up between the MSF and the congolese government. MSF believes that the presence of armed forces in the operation scaring the locals, while the government claims to give priority to the safety of personnel.
The declining confidence of the civilian population has received the american centre for disease CDC to warn that it can take upwards of a year to get to grips with the outbreak in the Congo. CDC chief Robert Redfield said on Thursday that greater efforts must be made to win the trust of local people.
” We have not effectively engaged the population as part of the operation. To figure out how it should be done is critical, ” says Redfield in the State.
