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This week, the outbreak of Ebola has reached a critical point.
A five-year-old boy, who became the first confirmed case of Ebola infection outside the Democratic Republic of Congo during the current epidemic, died in Uganda Tuesday night.
As the World Health Organization warns that there is a very high risk of spreading the disease in the region, agencies like World Vision are working tirelessly to contain the epidemic.
Now World Vision President Claire Rogers has written a heartbreaking open letter urging the Australian government to help address the humanitarian challenges of fighting the Ebola virus.
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When a five-year-old boy died of ebola in Uganda this week, I knew that the moment we all feared had arrived. Ebola has crossed the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and East Africa.
This little boy – known as the Uganda Index Case – has crossed with his mother and younger brother back in Uganda from the DRC where more than 2,000 cases have been recorded. The boy's grandmother has since died and his little brother is infected, and at least four other cases are suspected.
Make no mistake: Ebola is a scary and horrible disease.
Contagion occurs when victims become symptomatic with fever, severe weakness, throat and muscle aches. The Ebola virus can be confused with typhoid or malaria until it turns into horrible symptoms of projectile vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding from the skin, nose or even the eyes. . Patients die from dehydration and multiorgan failure.
The spread in Uganda is a fatal blow to humanitarian workers who are working tirelessly to confine Ebola in the rural areas of the volatile North Kivu region of the DRC.
Nobody wants an epidemic but that's what we are facing.
Most of the epidemics are over quickly, but this is the worst we have seen since the 2013-2016 crisis in West Africa, which has taken more than 11,000 lives and several years to control. Most people dying at home and not in health centers, it is clear that the mistrust of the community remains widespread.
Stakeholders want to move quickly and adopt a command-and-control approach, but to defeat Ebola, communities must fight or we have no hope.
In recent weeks, we have been talking to village leaders, women and religious leaders – Christians and Muslims – to inform them about preventing the spread of the Ebola virus.
The messages given by pastors, priests and imams have the confidence of their congregations. It is this approach that reversed the trend in the West African epidemic three years ago.
World Vision trains community health workers and provides thousands of sanitation kits. According to the World Health Organization, about 90% of people at risk have agreed to be vaccinated. And the simple act of washing your hands reduces the exposure.
However, with one in four cases not detected according to the WHO, the Ebola virus threat prevalent in East Africa is real. The DR Congo can not face it alone but it is complicated.
Eastern DRC is a war zone where 13 million people need humanitarian badistance, 1,500 people have been affected by measles and violence – including the use of 39, child soldiers in more than 100 armed groups – is widespread. Trade and border movements are fluid. Thousands of refugees suddenly leave the DRC every month, especially when fighting breaks out.
This constant insecurity is one of our greatest challenges. Partly for this reason, despite millions of dollars invested in the response and severe warnings for nearly a year, we have had a frightening cross-border spread of the Ebola virus.
Humanitarian workers have been deliberately targeted in crisis areas, such as Butembo, and in over 100 violent incidents, including attacks on Ebola treatment centers.
Since the beginning of the year, 85 workers have been killed or injured.
It is very difficult to offer treatment and prevention that saves lives without secure access. Armed security forces escorting health workers are tainted by an badociation in the DRC. This is not surprising in an explosive part of the world torn apart by the conflict between the government, armed groups and armed groups supported by the international community.
Misinformation can spread quickly. Some leaders deny the existence of the Ebola virus, some use it as a political tool and others even accuse humanitarian workers of introducing the virus!
This is why it is essential that local people lead the fight.
In 2013-2016, communities were upset and angry when they could not bury their dead, according to local customs. The risk of Ebola virus transmission during a burial being extremely high, World Vision has therefore collaborated with local leaders to adapt the burial ceremony so that the dead can be buried safely but crucially, in dignity.
Our approach to community-based Ebola prevention has been so effective that research with Johns Hopkins University in the United States has revealed that none of the 59,000 people we support in Africa from West with a long-term development work is dead.
The principles retained by the international community during the epidemic in West Africa must now be funded and generalized in the DRC – and quickly.
Australia has an international obligation to pay attention to the current crisis in the DRC, both as a good citizen of the world and because it is in our interest: Ebola knows no boundaries. If the epidemic is not under control, cases could occur worldwide, including here.
Together, governments, INGOs and concerned citizens can make great strides in helping the people of the DRC, especially children.
I call on our Australian government to provide funding to the DRC's humanitarian action
reply.
– To donate to World Vision, visit the website.
– Claire Rogers is the Executive Director of World Vision Australia. Continue the conversation @WVAnews
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