Ebola: Prevention through strong networks
In the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ebola virus continues to spread. Together with our local and international partners, we are taking preventative measures to contain the spread of the virus. For this to succeed, the trust of the local population is also crucial.
As there is no vaccine against the Ebola strain responsible for the current outbreak, and because conflict situations make it difficult to provide care for those who are ill, prevention is currently the most important form of protection. We are therefore ensuring the protection of health care workers and helping to educate and raise awareness among the population. Both measures are vital to prevent people from becoming infected with the virus in the first place.
Building trust on the ground
At the start of the outbreak, scepticism and mistrust spread among the population, particularly towards medical staff. Norman Nausch, Head of the German Epidemic Preparedness Team (SEEG) at GIZ, explains, ‘When it comes to infectious diseases, misinformation and myths often arise. It is important to take people’s fears seriously and to fill gaps in public awareness.’
Through the SEEG, GIZ is therefore raising awareness among the general public and health care staff in Eastern Congo – together with church agencies, which are highly respected and act as key intermediaries. They provide basic information on a particular disease, on how to protect yourself from infection and how to deal with suspected cases correctly. More than 140 health care facilities are benefiting from this educational work. In an online crisis portal in East Africa set up by GIZ, people can also find information on current outbreaks in local languages.
Protecting health care workers is proving effective
In a crisis like Ebola, every health care professional is needed. At the same time, they are then exposed to high risks. Burkard Kömm, who heads a pandemic preparedness project in East Africa at GIZ, says, ‘Local health care workers in Eastern Congo are literally on the front line. If they are better protected, so are their patients.’ Through the project, we have ensured that medical staff in Eastern Congo receive protective equipment, which is now being used locally. At the same time, we are training health care professionals on how to use the equipment and treat patients without infecting themselves.
In further training sessions, we are teaching health care staff in East Africa how to recognise symptoms of the virus at an early stage, provide medical care for seriously ill patients and discuss the risks of infection with patients and their families.
Our major advantage is working with local experts who provided support already during the 2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. They understand the needs of the local people and can therefore build lasting trust.
The health care professionals then pass on the knowledge they have gained to their communities. And this has positive results: The proportion of health care workers among those infected has already more than halved.
Local prevention provides protection worldwide
Norman Nausch explains: ‘When we control local epidemics, this has a global impact.’ Diseases do not stop at national borders, as the coronavirus pandemic has also shown. Our aim is therefore to stop epidemics before they become global crises. We carry out our work to contain the Ebola virus on behalf of the German Government.
