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DRC is going through the worst Ebola epidemic ever recorded in the country

The Democratic Republic of Congo is going through the worst Ebola epidemic ever recorded in this country, with more than 420 cases recorded in the east of the country. This Ebola epidemic, the tenth in the DRC, is special because more than 60% of patients are women.

Bénédicte is only a month old, but her short existence has already been very difficult. She spent the last three weeks of her life in isolation, cut off from all human contact.

Her mother, infected with the Ebola virus, died while giving birth to her. She is under the constant care of a nurse, covered from head to toe with protective equipment. The medical team does not know where his father is and his future is uncertain.

Since the beginning of August, the Ebola virus has been diagnosed in more than 400 people, more than half of whom have died. It is the second worst Ebola epidemic after the one that killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa between 2013 and 2016.

The disease is all the more complicated to manage since the area where it spreads is also the scene of several armed conflicts. Ugandan ADF rebels escalate atrocities against civilian populations. The territory of Béni is also home to several militias and Mai-Mai groups. The region is an explosive cocktail on which the Ebola virus has stuck.

For Dr Guido Cornale, UNICEF coordinator in the region, the scale of the epidemic is obvious: “It has become the worst epidemic in the Congo, it’s no mystery.”

What is mysterious is the fact that more than 60% of the cases are women.

Dr. Bathe refuses to say or predict the end of the epidemic. But officials from international health organizations estimate that it could last another six months. In the meantime, according to Dr. Cornale, epidemiologists are trying to understand why the Ebola virus affects so many women and children.

For now we can only try to guess. One of the hypotheses is that women take care of sick people at home. So if a family member gets sick, who cares? A woman normally.

A woman, mother, wife or nurse, especially since many of the people affected are health workers. Nurse Guilaine Mulindwa Masika spent 16 days after a patient who transmitted the virus to her. She says it was the fight of her life.

For the sick, the road to recovery is long and lonely. Masika and her colleagues had to be absent from work, being in seclusion for at least three weeks to ensure that the risk of infection was gone.

In the main hospital in Beni, families who have recovered live together in a large white tent, separated from human contact, using a bright orange plastic cord. They say hello to their guards, who must put on protective clothing if they want to approach them.

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