BUNIA, Congo — Authorities report that at least 500 people have died among over 1,500 confirmed cases in Congo’s Ebola outbreak, prompting frontline workers to threaten a strike over unpaid benefits and poor working conditions.
Since the outbreak declaration on May 15, a total of 1,561 cases, including 506 fatalities, have been recorded. The Ministry of Health noted that the situation continues to worsen as the response struggles to keep pace.
Workers in Ituri province, the outbreak’s epicenter, issued a 24-hour notice on Sunday indicating they would strike if their demands for pay and better working conditions are not met.
These workers, primarily health professionals facing extreme pressures, have been working tirelessly amid hostility from local communities and widespread distrust regarding the virus.
In a letter seen by The Associated Press, workers from hospitals and other facilities reported that they have not received any benefits since the outbreak began and lack essential supplies.
Their grievances include low salaries, the “arrogance” of teams arriving from the capital, Kinshasa, and the “excessive” reliance on labor from other provinces without hiring locals in Ituri, alongside insufficient equipment.
The workers’ threat of a strike comes shortly after clinical trial enrollments began, heightening concerns about the potential effects of a strike on outbreak containment efforts, especially in regions like North Kivu and South Kivu, which are now affected.
The absence of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain, linked to the ongoing Ebola outbreak, complicates mitigation efforts. In contrast, the Zaire strain, for which there is a vaccine, has been responsible for most of Congo’s previous 16 outbreaks.
Officials are still working to identify the outbreak’s initial patient and trace potentially tens of thousands of individuals who have come into contact with infected persons.
According to the World Health Organization, the first month of this Ebola outbreak has already been the worst on record.
