Since the beginning of January we've been reporting on how different
countries are dealing with coronavirus. Some of them are also trying to contain
other diseases at the same time. The outbreak of Covid 19 in the Democratic
Republic of Congo was declared on the 10th of March this year and a month
later when the country was preparing to celebrate the end of the Ebola outbreak
that had killed more than 2,000 people, another person was found to have
contracted Ebola followed by seven more. This leaves health workers trying to
tackle two epidemics at once. From Congo I'm joined by head of operations for the
Red Cross in the DRC Robert Ghosn. So Robert what's happening at the moment
with the Ebola outbreak? Obviously it was bad news to have a new case around 20
days ago but there is a little bit of a glimpse of hope because we haven't seen
a lot of cases since and they're all linked to the same strain of
contamination, so that makes us think or hope that you know this can be contained
again. So we've strengthened our effort to engage with the communities and talk
to them and make sure that they remain safe and they understand how to remain
safe in their realities which are very difficult realities and very
different from one village to the other. And we've also strengthened of course
the services we're providing to health care centres to make sure that they
remain safe from Ebola and Covid. And also that they don't become hotspots
where actually contamination happens which is what happened historically in
outbreaks. So we work very hard to make sure that does not happen. And can the
lessons from Ebola be put into practice with Covid 19 because presumably things
like testing and tracing contacts and isolating people is something that the
country is now very practiced at? Yes absolutely so this is this is a key
message for us. I mean we've learned the hard way unfortunately, some lessons from
the Ebola response, and and let me give you a couple of examples so it's not
just theoretical. So we've learned that top-down messaging does not work. It's
not enough to say to people stay home or wash your hands or don't do this or do
that because the realities are different. So how can you stay home when you live
on a daily wage and if you don't go to work,
then you cannot feed your family? How can you wash your hands if
you don't have water at hand to wash your hands? Or if you work in a market
where that is very very crowded anyway, and where the lack of water is a problem?
So top-down messaging does not work. We've learned this the hard way with
Ebola and you have to engage with people. You have to understand where they
come from and help them design their own response and how to stay safe. And this
is where the Red Cross role is crucial because the Red Cross volunteers were at
the forefront of this of this battle against Covid and Ebola. They come from
these communities, they are your neighbour, they are your friend, they are you
cousin, they are your son or daughter or husband, so they know
exactly what the situation is so they're not just repeating a message they've
heard on TV or on radio or somewhere. They're actually trying to adapt that
message to your reality. The other key message we've learned from
Ebola is that we couldn't stop Ebola if we did not address issues such as
economic insecurity, such as access to health care and the same applies to
Covid. It, you know, it serves very little purpose to stop Covid if people
are dying of measles and other diseases. And a third and last
point for me is that epidemics begin with the communities and they end, and
they're contained with the community, so the idea that you would stop an epidemic,
or pandemic for that matter, against the community by forcing some rules on them
it just doesn't work. The people who are suffering from the epidemic are the
people who can stop it and you really have to listen to them. And people are
smart. People understand. Now there's a reason why they behave in a certain way
and if you don't understand that reason it's not good enough to say, 'well you
know, they should have listened to us, they woukdn't have caught Covid19. No.
The real question is that there's a reason why they behave the way they
behave and that usually has to do with their livelihoods. And then you have to
adapt that message if you want them to maintain their livelihood and stop Covid 19
and Ebola. And sometimes in epidemics there can be a problem where
misinformation gets spread around and where there are rumours that aren't
necessarily true. Do you have a way of somehow finding out what these rumours
are that are going around and encountering those? Yes this is
a huge problem in epidemics and in other situations and we've set up a very
impressive, if I may say, system whereby the Red Cross volunteers
go door-to-door, they engage with the community. They not only convey Ebola and
Covid prevention messages and adapt them to the context - as I've said earlier
that's one part of their job - but there is another part which is super important
and crucial: They listen to what people say. So
people would reply saying, 'no Ebola does not exist, Ebola is an invention ,Ebola
was invented by whoever, for whatever reason.' And we take very careful note of
that and then we have a system where that feedback goes up the chain and gets
analysed and then we improve the messaging based on that feedback so next
time a volunteer runs across the same rumour he or she would know what to say
and will know where it's coming from. And then we test these messages and then we
see how convincing they are. And if they are not convincing we try to improve
them. Thank you very much Robert Gosyn from the Red Cross.