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Dozens of Congolese Ebola survivors dispel rumors and take care of isolated patients and children during the second most deadly epidemic in the world, health workers said Thursday.
The virus is spreading rapidly in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with 713 confirmed and probable cases and 439 deaths. It was only surpbaded by the 2014-2016 epidemic in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which claimed the lives of more than 11,000 people.
Nearly 250 patients in the DRC have recovered since the beginning of the epidemic in July. Research has shown that the disease confers immunity on survivors.
"I love this job a lot," said Lydie Besolo, an 18-year-old girl living in the city of Beni. She survived Ebola. ).
"I tell my story (to the patients), it helps them," she said, adding that she hoped to become a doctor someday.
Health workers say that one of the main challenges of this epidemic has been to dispel rumors about the disease. Suspicious of foreign interventions and political plots, residents attacked volunteers and refused vaccines.
Ebola hit the Congo during a period of political tension ahead of the December elections to end President Joseph Kabila's 17-year rule.
At the last minute, the electoral commission canceled the vote in Beni and in other areas hit by the Ebola virus, which are strongholds of the opposition.
"I tell them that it's not politics, it's a real disease," said Modeste Kasereka Kikopo, a survivor who works in the MSF center as an electrician and helps to awareness.
The charity said some 20 survivors work in its Beni center, mainly to treat patients.
Twelve survivors work in a crèche for children separated from their parents, said UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, while nearly 40 survivors are involved in the efforts to enlist community led by the Red Cross.
"Ebola survivors are an essential entry point for building trust in the community," said Jamie LeSueur, chief of operations for the Ebola response of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. of the Red Crescent.
SOURCE:
Reuters News Agency
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