Thanks to Mary Marshall for alerting me to this part of today's MoH Ebola update, which I completely missed a few minutes ago when I posted the routine content: SPECIAL COMMUNICATION FROM THE MINISTER OF HEALTH. The full statement and then a comment:
This Sunday, March 24, 2019, the Ebola outbreak in the provinces of North Kivu has exceeded the threshold of 1,000 cases.
Before being a public health emergency, an Ebola epidemic is above all a human and social tragedy. Behind these numbers are several hundred Congolese families directly affected by the virus and hundreds of orphans.
To date, 629 people have died. For the 321 healed people who had the chance to overcome this painful ordeal, returning home is not always easy. Already forced to live with the legacy of the disease, these Ebola winners also face stigma within their community.
The response, led under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and in collaboration with its partners, has limited the geographical spread of the epidemic for more than eight months. To date, the epidemic has not spread in the other provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo or in neighboring countries, although the risk remains.
The many scientific innovations included in the response strategy have greatly contributed to these results. Targeted vaccination has helped protect more than 91,000 people, including nearly 23,000 high-risk contacts who have been in direct contact with confirmed Ebola patients. Improving the quality of supportive care and the use of therapeutic molecules have increased the average survival rate in Ebola Treatment Centers (ETCs) to more than 60%. Thus, more than 6 in 10 people who are admitted to CTE survive.
However, beyond medical advances, only community ownership of the Ebola response can lead to the ultimate end of the most deadly Ebola outbreak in our country's history. In all health zones where the Ebola response has been appropriate, such as Beni, Mabalako and Tchomia, transmission of the virus has been halted.
The community has a collective and individual responsibility to stop the spread of the virus and protect its members by not giving in to calls for violence, rumors and fake experts. Every member of the community, at his level, has a role to play in stopping the spread of the virus.
Thus, the first link in the Ebola response is not at the level of health workers in health facilities but in the community. The response begins at the level of the mother who brings her sick child to the health center and accepts that a sample is taken for the laboratory. It is also based on the head of the family, who accepts that all family members are vaccinated after one of them has been infected with Ebola.
If a reluctant ill person is enough to spread the epidemic into a new health zone, it is also enough for a person committed and responsible to protect an entire family, or an entire neighborhood, against Ebola.
Since the beginning of the epidemic, the response teams have been reaching out to the community through regular community dialogues. The installation of local riposte committees led by district or village chiefs brings the citizens' action center closer together.
We invite those who have the privilege of being thought leaders to engage positively by sharing messages that support community buy-in to health measures.
Dr. Oly ILUNGA KALENGA
Minister of Health
As in West Africa, popular fear and distrust are as deadly as the Ebola virus itself. And as in West Africa, 50 or 60 years of post-colonial corruption and violence have given good reason to fear and mistrust a succession of governments. Dr. Ilunga is a minister of such a government, still in office because the new government (whose legitimacy is suspect) hasn't got round to forming its own cabinet.
That said, he seems to have done a good job under brutal circumstances. He's kept Ebola contained within North Kivu and Ituri, and accomplished over 90,000 vaccinations despite daunting conditions. Public health students will study his vaccination campaign the way West Pointers study Alexander and Hannibal.
I read this statement as an appeal for help—from both the people he's trying to save, and from us.
Come to think of it, he's trying to save us as well.
