{"id":185475,"date":"2018-10-13T22:49:59","date_gmt":"2018-10-14T02:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=185475"},"modified":"2018-10-13T22:49:59","modified_gmt":"2018-10-14T02:49:59","slug":"battles-safe-ebola-burials-complicate-work-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/13\/battles-safe-ebola-burials-complicate-work-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"Battles over safe Ebola burials complicate work in Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThey swore no one had manipulated the corpse,\u201d it added. Ebola spreads via bodily fluids of those infected, including the dead. (File Photo<\/a>: Pan American Health Organization PAHO\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BENI, Congo \u2014 A runaway hearse carrying an Ebola victim has become the latest example of sometimes violent community resistance complicating efforts to contain a Congo outbreak \u2014 and causing a worrying new rise in cases.<\/p>\n

The deadly virus’ appearance for the first time in the far northeast has sparked fear. Suspected contacts of infected people have tried to slip away. Residents have assaulted health teams. The rate of new Ebola cases has more than doubled since the start of this month, experts say.<\/p>\n

Safe burials are particularly sensitive as some outraged family members reject the intervention of health workers in the deeply personal moment, even as they put their own lives at risk.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, a wary peace was negotiated over the body of an Ebola victim, one of 95 deaths among 172 confirmed cases so far, Congo’s health ministry said. Her family demanded that an acquaintance drive the hearse, while they agreed to wear protective gear to carry the casket. A police vehicle would follow.<\/p>\n

On the way to the cemetery, however, the hearse peeled away \u201cat full speed,\u201d the ministry said. A violent confrontation followed with local youth once the hearse was found at the family’s own burial plot elsewhere. The procession eventually reached the cemetery by day’s end.<\/p>\n

The next day, with a better understanding of what was at stake, several family members appeared voluntarily at a hospital for Ebola vaccinations, the ministry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey swore no one had manipulated the corpse,\u201d it added. Ebola spreads via bodily fluids of those infected, including the dead.<\/p>\n

The Beni community where the confrontation occurred is at the centre of Ebola containment efforts. To the alarm of the World Health Organization and others, it is also where community resistance has been the most persistent \u2014 and where many of the new cases are found.<\/p>\n

Chronic mistrust after years of rebel attacks is part of the \u201ctoxic mix\u201d in Beni, WHO’s emergencies chief, Peter Salama, said in a Twitter post.<\/p>\n

So far, the Ebola work in Beni has been suspended twice since the outbreak was declared on Aug. 1. A \u201cdead city\u201d of mourning in response to a rebel attack caused the first. Wednesday’s violence caused the second. With each pause, crucial efforts to track thousands of possible Ebola contacts can slide, risking further infections.<\/p>\n

Defending themselves, Beni residents have pointed out the shock of having one of the world’s most notorious diseases appear along with strangers in biohazard suits who tell them how to say goodbye to loved ones killed by the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil now we didn’t know enough about Ebola and we felt marginalized when Red Cross agents came in and took the corpse and buried it without family members playing a role,\u201d Beni resident Patrick Kyana, who said a friend lost his father to the virus, told The Associated Press. \u201cIt’s very difficult. Imagine that your son dies and someone refuses to let you assist in his burial. In Africa we respect death greatly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until recently many people in Beni didn’t believe that Ebola existed, thinking it was a government plot to further delay presidential elections, Kizito Hangi, president of Beni’s civil society, told the AP.<\/p>\n

Now the population has started to catch on and co-operate, Hangi said. \u201cThe problem was that the health workers all came from outside, but local specialists have been included to persuade and inform people in local languages.\u201d<\/p>\n

The head of emergency Ebola operations with the\u00a0International\u00a0Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Jamie LeSueur, acknowledged the problem. In early October two Red Cross volunteers were severely injured in an attack during safe burials in the community of Butemo. Another volunteer was injured in September by people throwing stones.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt raised a lot of questions for all of us. Where is the violence coming from?\u201d he said. They have stepped up efforts to collaborate with communities and be clearer about messaging while working within cultural norms as best as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course there are limitations,\u201d LeSueur said. \u201cSome people like to view the corpse as it is buried but with Ebola it is difficult to open up the body bag.\u201d In the emotionally charged environment where families have lost loved ones, a misstep could quickly raise tensions.<\/p>\n

While Congo’s government is acting to give more protection to its own safe burial teams in Beni, LeSueur noted that the \u201cmilitarization\u201d of similar efforts in the far deadlier Ebola outbreak in West Africa a few years ago led some residents to hide or not report deaths from the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think that will be the case in this event\u201d but everyone remembers that lesson, he said.<\/p>\n

With its position of neutrality the Red Cross doesn’t use armed guards in any case, LeSueur added. \u201cCommunity acceptance, that’s our security.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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