Catholic Relief Services strives to curb Ebola crisis in Central Africa

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda could take more than a year to contain due to scarce resources, regional conflict, and misinformation among local communities, according to Catholic Relief Services.

“It is a very big crisis,” Rafaramalala Volanarisoa, head of office for Catholic Relief Services in the DRC, told EWTN News. “Of course, Ebola, there’s no treatment, there’s no vaccines, so it’s very difficult to contain.”

Volanarisoa, who is based in the capital, Kinshasa, said CRS is partnering with Caritas medical centers across seven Catholic dioceses as well as the DRC Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) to help combat the outbreak.

She said CRS is providing funding to health centers for medical and hygiene supplies and distributing educational materials to help prevent transmission and counter misinformation.

“We have sent money to them to purchase those different supplies to protect the health center staff but also to protect those who are doing education in the community,” she said. “There are really big needs, so in many aspects, it’s reaching the community, doing proper education, and also supporting health center staff so they are protected.”

In addition to a lack of medical and sanitation supplies, Volanarisoa said population movement driven by armed groups and multiple warring factions is complicating response efforts. She also noted resistance among some local communities to accepting CRS-led public health education.

Volanarisoa said stigma and disbelief have fueled misinformation that Ebola is “fake” or intended to undermine local traditions, including burial practices. She said that while there is a high risk of transmission from bodies of those who have died from the disease, some communities remain resistant to changing burial practices.

“It’s very difficult for the population to do it in their proper ways, so there is misinformation that this is something brought to change the way we live here,” she said.

She noted that CRS does not operate directly on the front lines due to “cultural norms,” language barriers, and long-standing relationships between the Church and local communities.

Although she said the scope of the outbreak remains difficult to determine, she estimated the total cost to stop the spread of the virus at around $3 million and said past assessments suggest that if cases surpass 500, containment could take more than a year.

According to Volanarisoa, there are 33 confirmed Ebola cases in the DRC. There are also 516 suspected cases in the DRC, 131 deaths among suspected cases, and 541 people identified as contacts of confirmed cases or symptomatic deaths.

Two lab-confirmed cases have been reported in Kampala, Uganda, including one death, among two unrelated individuals who traveled into the country from the DRC, according to WHO.