Fill information gaps in Ebola response plan

This week we reported that 23 people in Kassanda District were infected with Ebola after exhuming the body of someone who had died of the disease. Dr Geofrey Bwire, the assistant commissioner in the Ministry of Health, revealed that the victims wanted to perform burial rituals on it.

“…our teams buried someone in Kalwana Village, Kikandwa Sub-county, who had succumbed to Ebola but the locals waited for them to leave and at night, they exhumed the body and performed burial rituals on it. Since bodies of those who have died from Ebola are highly infectious, many people were infected.”

He said. (See Daily Monitor November 2, 2022 “23 infected with Ebola after exhuming body”)
This absurd story highlights the gaping holes in the Ebola response drive. Clearly comprehensive community sensitisation will go a long way in the fight against the spread of the disease. It is key to note at this point that to come up with an effective sensitization drive, it is important to be aware of the said communities’ way of life and then educate them from an informed point of view.  

In our story about that exhumation in question, Dr Munir Safieldin, the Unicef representative stated it succinctly.  

“The communities highly regard rituals. So we need to have a different approach to behaviour change and that is what we advocate for at Unicef. There are not enough police officers to guard the graves of those who have died of Ebola but sensitising them (residents) about the dangers of touching bodies would solve this challenge,”

The Ministry of Health, leaders at all levels  and all stakeholders have their work cut out for them. The people must be educated not simply about the signs and symptoms of the disease and what to do when one has it or knows someone who might but also that the bodies of those who die of Ebola are highly infectious, that Ebola is not witchcraft and that victims should not escape from health centers, etc.

Obviously behavioural change messages if they are to be effective must be set up in a well thought-out and comprehensive communication campaign. This was done very well for covid-19 and it can also be done for the Ebola outbreak. 

Quickly tackle these avoidable and absurd information gaps in the Ebola response plan to avoid any more infections and deaths. Probable areas of weakness in the response plan should be identified early and dealt with as a way of taking on a preventive rather than a postmortem approach.