Ebola threat: Congo residents REFUSE medical treatment believing EXORCISM is cure
EBOLA is spreading through the Congo with patients refusing treatment believing the virus is the work of the devil.
World Health Organisation begin Ebola vaccinations in Congo
Instead of taking vaccines, many locals are turning to preachers to rid them of evil spirits, further hampering the efforts of health workers battling to top the spread of the deadly illness.
The World Health Organisation today said the world is on an “epidemiological knife edge”
But the warnings are not being heeded by some who believe prayer is the answer.
The paster of one evangelical church died last Wednesday several days after he “prayed” for an Ebola victim who went for him to help.
Bush meat often consists of monkeys and even apes
Some sick people believe that the Ebola epidemic comes from sorcery
Nurse Julie Lobali, one of those on the frontline of the outbreak, and works in a hospital in the city of Mandaka, said: "Some sick people believe that the Ebola epidemic comes from sorcery - they refuse to be treated and prefer to pray.”
Since the outbreak – the ninth in the DRC’s history – which first emerged in the remote area of Bikoro on May 8, 51 cases of Ebola have been reported with 29 deaths.
Three people were earlier today reported to have escaped hospital quarantine, with two later found to have died and the third currently under observation by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Mrs Lobali said one superstition prevalent in the city was the belief that Ebola began in Bikoro as "a curse on those who ate stolen meat”, referring to the bush meat, consisting of African wild game including monkeys and even apes.
Consumption of bush meat is sometimes blamed for spreading the Ebola virus
Consumption of bush meat has sometimes been blamed for spreading the Ebola virus.
Blandine Mboyo, who lives in Mbandaka's district of Bongondjo, told AFP "a hunter put a curse on the village because his big game was stolen".
Local vendor Nicole Batoa said: "This curse is so powerful because it hits those who ate this meat, having heard about the theft or having seen the stolen animal.”
Another resident, Guy Ingila, reported having heard officials say during radio broadcasts that "this disease is incurable. It's because it's about witchcraft.".
The confusion is complicating the efforts of health officials to tackle the outbreak.
A health official uses a thermometer to measure the temperature of air passengers in Mbandaka
In Geneva on Tuesday, African health officials said they were preparing to send anthropologists to the DRC to help with an Ebola vaccination campaign in a bid to counter widespread superstition and misinformation.
WHO's emergency response chief Peter Salama told ministers and diplomats in Geneva today: "The next few weeks will really tell if this outbreak is going to expand to urban areas or if we're going to be able to keep it under control.
"We're on the epidemiological knife edge of this response.”
A prototype vaccine will first be given to frontline health workers and then to people who have been in contact with Ebola cases.
Here is the #Ebola response timeline so far.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 23, 2018
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John Nkengasong, head of Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC), told reporters: "If we do not handle communication well, the vaccination programme may suffer.
”So we are also assessing how in the next two weeks or so to deploy anthropologists to support the vaccine efforts."
In large parts of Africa, disease and death are often not looked on as natural phenomena.
Zacharie Bababaswe, a Congolese specialist in cultural history, said the attitude was often one of “so many deaths is a sign of a curse and can only have been provoked by a bad spirit”.
The WHO's emergency response chief Peter Salama speaks in Geneva
Mr Bababaswe said before the burgeoning popularity of evangelical churches in the country, many Congolese would go see the witch doctor or village healer for treatment.
Widespread superstitions persist today - but, since the 1980s, it has taken a different form, with some people preferring to visit a church or a pastor who claims to have healing powers.
Bavon N'Sa Mputu, an elected official from Bikoro, said: “To brake the spread of Ebola, we have to convince villagers that the disease is not a curse.”