DRC health officials trained to combat spread of Ebola

The World Health Organization (WHO) has increased efforts to address challenges in combating the deadly Ebola viral disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The world health body has begun training health workers to sensitize local communities about the virus, and to provide them with materials to fight the disease.

Dr. Alain Kakule Mangolopa and his team are at the forefront of the WHO Ebola response in the DRC as part of the infection prevention and control (IPC) task force.

Every day, the team visits health facilities and households where cases of Ebola have been reported.

They do some decontamination work themselves, and also provide cleaning supplies for the households and health workers to use to prevent spread of the disease.

“Today in this health center in Mbaou, there have been two positive cases that have happened here, and we came with the team of hygienists for decontamination. And that’s the exercise we’re doing now. But in households, we have decontaminated up to now ten households, and all ten cases were positive. We also donated household kits accompanied by psycho-social and communication teams to comfort families, so that they could also have the key principles of hand-washing, and for this to be applied in the household.” Mangolopa said.

The outbreak, the country’s worst, has killed at least 561 people and infected over 300 since last year.

The fight against Ebola depends on tracing people who may have had contact with the disease and could fall ill and spread it further.

But the outbreak in a region of DR Congo with frequent fighting makes it hard for health workers to move around and monitor potential sufferers and to spread messages about how to avoid becoming sick.

Reuters