People set fire to an Ebola treatment center in a town at the heart of the outbreak in eastern Congo on Thursday after being stopped from retrieving the body of a local man, a witness and a senior police officer said, as fear and anger grow over a health crisis that doctors are struggling to contain.
The arson attack in Rwampara reflects the challenges of health workers trying to curb a rare Ebola virus by using stringent measures that might clash with local customs, such as burial rites. The disease has been spreading for weeks in a region lacking in health facilities and where armed conflict has displaced many people.
The dangerous work of burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities because the bodies of those who die from Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare bodies for burial and gather for funerals.
That policy can be extremely unpopular with victims’ families and friends, who aren’t given the chance to bury their loved ones.
I appreciate this being a reply that engages with the human experience folks are having there as much as the need for treatment and containment measures
Obviously its not helpful to burn treatment clinics. And also, very clearly theres a large cultural and human need that needs to be addressed in some way to manage the current crisis.
Kinda just a sad situation all around. Burial traditions and the grieving process are really important, and being denied the ability to participate in them must be deeply painful. I hope that medical and cultural practices can somehow adjust over time and find something more stable long term