Congo's Ebola burial teams battle community anger, fatigue and fear of infection

Congo`s Ebola burial teams battle community anger, fatigue and fear of infection. Representaional pic

Yuma Adolphe and his team are responsible for the safe and dignified burial of some of the people who die from Ebola in Ituri, the epicenter of history's deadliest Ebola outbreak. Nearly every day, they dig the graves, prepare the bodies and handle the coffins.

But as the authorities grapple with the outbreak, which has killed nearly 3,200 people among more than 6,500 cases, the burial team says they are at their limits, struggling with an increasing workload and hostile communities.

"It is difficult, but we try to push ourselves beyond our limits," Adolphe told The Associated Press.

Since the outbreak began in mid-May, authorities have deployed small burial teams like Adolphe's across the hot spots to handle the burials.

Paid USD 20 a day, they are a part of a group of front-line workers who are working to contain the rapidly moving disease.
Despite the toll, the burial team members say the priority is to keep their community safe.

"We have to look at our own mental well-being, and physically the fatigue mounts, but we keep going to ensure the community is protected."

Congo's ongoing Ebola outbreak set to become deadliest Ebola outbreak in history

It is unlike most previous Ebola outbreaks because the rare Bundibugyo virus responsible for it has no approved vaccines or treatments, though efforts to address that are underway.

Experts say this outbreak is moving faster than efforts to track and manage it in a remote part of eastern Congo facing ongoing conflict, near the borders with South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.

Most of the new cases and deaths are still being reported in communities outside the reach of health workers in a region of poor infrastructure and ill-equipped health centres. Some health workers have gone on strike over lack of pay. Misinformation about the virus continues to circulate in communities where some are wary of outsiders, keeping some people from clinics.

"The outbreak had a big head start, still way ahead of us. and we're playing catch-up," Tedros said.

Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, WHO's director for health emergency alert and response operations, said the agency expects the peak of the outbreak to be reached in six months.

"But ... that's the moderate scenario," Mahamud added. "There is a one-case scenario where this outbreak may last nine months to 12 months."

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