Healthcare workers on the frontline of the Ebola epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo face attacks, mistrust, and dangerous working conditions. Many are unpaid and unprotected, confronting communities that view Ebola response as a moneymaking scheme by outsiders from Kinshasa and abroad. Social media hashtags like “Ebola business” and “Ebola plot” reflect widespread suspicion.

In one month, workers endured attacks on three consecutive days in separate incidents. The UN’s OCHA reported 45 frontline staff injured in 76 security incidents across Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces. In a border town in Ituri, a crowd assaulted a Ugandan Red Cross team, injuring a volunteer and damaging ambulances with stones.

Dr Balla Conde of the International Federation of Red Cross emphasized volunteer safety as a key priority. Clinics have been burned after refusing to release bodies for traditional funeral rites, which involve washing and kissing corpses—practices that risk spreading Ebola, as remains remain infectious. With no effective vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain, at least 43 healthcare workers have died and 160 infected.

Sandrine Lusamba of Sofepadi noted ongoing shortages of protective equipment despite improvements since May. The epidemic has killed 3,009 of 6,207 confirmed cases in under four months, making it the fastest-spreading and deadliest in DR Congo since 1976, surpassing the pace of the 2014–2016 West Africa outbreak that killed 11,310 over three years. It has spread to six of the country’s 26 provinces, covering an area the size of France.