An excellent article in The New Humanitarian: Ebola survivors in Congo face stigma and mental health issues. Excerpt:
Anselme Kambale Mungwayitheka thought he was going to die of Ebola a year ago. After contracting the virus and being admitted to an isolation ward, the 40-year-old nurse didn’t think he would make it out alive. Now cured, he says he also feels cursed.
The father of three, who still works at an Ebola treatment centre during the day, lies awake at night questioning why even those closest to him have been reluctant to come near him: “I thought, why am I alive? Even my wife and my friends don’t like me. I should have been killed from Ebola.”
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s deadliest ever Ebola outbreak has shown signs of slowing in recent weeks despite a spike in cases reported yesterday. But stigma against survivors – who can be shunned by loved ones, colleagues, and neighbours – and a lack of mental health support mean the virus will haunt many of them long after the epidemic is officially declared over.
This outbreak has been raging for more than a year now and has cost more than 2,200 lives. Although treatment advances have contributed to a higher than ever proportion of survivors – more than 1,000 – there is growing concern that the stigma of the disease has not been adequately addressed as part of the response.
Although the 2014-2016 West African outbreak killed more people, the latest outbreak has posed unique challenges.
It is the first to occur in an active conflict zone, compounding existing trauma with the distress of Ebola.
Eastern Congo is home to more than 100 armed groups. Attacks against health workers – amid rumours that the virus isn’t real or that it’s a money-making venture for some – have led several times to the suspension of Ebola response operations.
However, according to survivors and aid officials involved in operations in Congo, there is also a lack of trained mental health staff in the country and an insufficient mental health component within the response.
For example, in Beni, one of the major towns in the outbreak zone, the government’s psychosocial commission, which works with Ebola survivors and their families, has 115 employees, including 15 trained psychologists. The employees receive three days of training from the commission before they start, followed by monthly information sessions.
But the Ministry of Health estimates it needs at least another 50 trained psychologists between Beni and nearby Butembo to properly cover the area.
“It’s not sufficient,” said Justin Kakule Kasai, president of the psychosocial commission.
Health workers visit survivors on average once a month for 30 minutes. Ebola orphans – of which there are almost 2,500 at risk of being stigmatised, isolated, or abandoned according to UNICEF – get more frequent check-ins: once a week for 15 to 25 minutes.
International aid groups are trying to fill the gap, with UNICEF training more than 1,000 psychologists and psychosocial workers since the beginning of the epidemic – but reaching affected communities has proved challenging amid bouts of violence.
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