Health workers trying to stop Ebola from spreading through a crowded displacement camp in eastern Congo have been chased away by angry locals who insist the disease is a hoax. Two women died from the virus at the Kpangba camp two weeks ago, but residents blocked contact-tracing teams from doing their work.

“Up to this day, we aren't able to follow up on the contacts of these cases,” said Jean-Claude Lonzama, the chief doctor for the Nizi health zone, a heavily populated mining area. The standoff means health authorities are flying blind in a camp of around 30,000 people — most of whom fled inter-ethnic violence in surrounding areas.

The Kpangba camp isn't the only problem. Lonzama said there are 22 displacement sites in the Nizi health zone, home to more than 81,000 people. “This is also our great worry because no preventive measures have been put in place in these sites aside from a few educational messages,” he told Reuters on Saturday.

Since the outbreak was declared a month ago, several Ebola treatment sites have been attacked by locals angry that they can't bury their loved ones according to tradition. Ebola precautions require safe burial practices to stop the virus from spreading, but many residents see these measures as suspicious or believe the whole outbreak is a lie.

“Up to this day, we aren't able to follow up on the contacts of these cases.”

Aid workers fear the virus could explode through the camps. Hundreds of people sometimes share a single toilet, and open defecation is common — conditions that help Ebola spread fast. This outbreak is already one of the world's largest ever, and it's hitting three provinces — Ituri, South Kivu, and North Kivu — that have been devastated by decades of conflict.

More than 5 million people are displaced across those three provinces. In Kpangba, as in towns and rural areas across eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, health workers are running into deep-seated mistrust of the government and outsiders. The attacks on treatment sites bring back memories of the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, when more than 25 health workers were killed by civilians and armed groups.

The two deaths in Kpangba happened on May 31 and June 1, but were first made public in a U.N. refugee agency report on Thursday. According to a Congolese health ministry report seen by Reuters, the first victim — a 60-year-old woman in the camp — tested positive for Ebola on May 30 but had broken out of quarantine and couldn't be found.

Health experts are deeply worried. Winning trust from the population is hard enough, but add shortages of critical equipment and armed conflict across much of the affected areas, and the prospects for containing the outbreak look grim.

  • 22 displacement sites in Nizi health zone, with 81,124 residents
  • Over 5 million displaced across Ituri, South Kivu, and North Kivu
  • First victim tested positive May 30, broke quarantine, died May 31
  • Second victim died June 1
  • Outbreak declared one month ago
  • 25+ health workers killed during 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in same region