May 26, 2026, 08:50May 26, 2026, 08:50
In their fight against the Ebola outbreak, aid workers in Central Africa also have to deal with superstition and ignorance. In the province of Ituri in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where most of the more than 900 suspected cases are located, around one in three people believe the disease is a myth, according to the aid organization ActionAid.
“We are fighting not only against a deadly virus, but also against myths, fear and deep-seated mistrust,” said Saani Yakubu, ActionAid country director in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“We are working hard to conduct educational campaigns in communities to refute myths and false information,” he said. This should also lead the population to “protection-oriented behavior”. While some people completely deny the existence of Ebola, others believed that they could protect themselves from infection by drinking strong alcoholic drinks.
Awareness campaigns are intended to help contain the virus.Image: keystone
The lack of knowledge has repeatedly led to confrontations in recent days. Most recently, Ebola patients fled the hospital in the town of Mungwalu on Sunday when relatives of a deceased person set fire to treatment tents because they were refused to hand over the body of a deceased person. Deceased Ebola patients are also highly contagious and must be buried with safety measures in mind. The Ebola patients who fled have not yet been found again. (hkl/sda/dpa)