“They grabbed me from behind and started hitting me, with shovels and machetes”tells Daniel Uyirwoth Welo, Red Cross volunteer, to the BBC. The 27-year-old was among four responders injured in an attack while carrying the coffin of an Ebola victim.
The events took place last month in a cemetery in Bunia, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The team was attempting to carry out a safe burial, an essential procedure to limit the spread of the virus, when a hostile crowd targeted them.
At the origin of this violence, widely disseminated rumors, both locally and on social networks. Some residents claimed the coffin was empty, while others simply denied the existence of Ebola or accused aid workers of acting purely for financial reasons.
This attack is part of a series of incidents linked to disinformation around the latest epidemic. Since mid-May, more than 1,750 people have been infected and around 600 have died in the DRC, according to authorities. Like the virus, false information continues to spread rapidly, preventing healthcare workers from working effectively.
Hospital attacks and staff assaults
Among the most widespread rumors are the idea that Ebola does not exist, that caregivers voluntarily contaminate populations or remove organs, or even that the health response is a way for them to enrich themselves. Beliefs that fuel distrust of doctors and provoke acts of violence against medical teams.
The BBC has documented at least a dozen documented cases of community resistance to health measures, including attacks on treatment centers, assaults on medical staff and attempts to prevent safe burials. The real number could be much higher, especially in isolated areas.
These tensions recently culminated in the fire at an Ebola treatment center in Ituri province, the epicenter of the epidemic. In another incident, clashes over the body of an alleged victim cost the life of a police officer. Funeral rites, deeply rooted in local traditions, often involve direct contact with the deceased, which favors the transmission of the virus.
For health authorities and humanitarian organizations, the issue now goes beyond just the medical response, and restoring confidence has become essential to containing the epidemic. In a context marked by years of conflict and distrust of institutions, convincing communities to accept health measures appears to be the real challenge in curbing the spread of the virus.
