New Mixed Methods Approach for Monitoring Community Perceptions of Ebola and Response Efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

Ebola-affected communities in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo had questions about the outbreak, doubts about the reality of Ebola, and concerns about health care and the Ebola vaccination program.n In peak outbreak areas, beliefs that Ebola response teams were stealing organs and bodies declined after burial teams introduced transparent body bags. Similarly, calls for making vaccination "more fair" declined after Ebola vaccination eligibility was expanded.

‘The response is like a big ship’: community feedback as a case study of evidence uptake and use in the 2018–2020 Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

“…This work of data collection, coding and thematic analysis allowed for the creation of weekly briefs by geographical zone, deep-dive briefs, trend analyses and specialised presentations for field-level and strategic decision-making. A dashboard of the CF (coded) was also made available to all response partners 16…”

“…12 13 Additional detail about the system itself is described elsewhere. [14][15][16] The structure of the DRC Ebola response changed over time, but remained organised around technical 'commissions' or pillars (see figure 1), based on the WHO's Incident Management System. 17 These pillars were largely the same at all levels of the DRC Ebola response.…”

“…A dashboard of the CF (coded) was also made available to all response partners. 16 At the time of data collection, CF was collected and analysed under the Risk Communications and Community Engagement (RCCE) pillar, one of several technical response pillars (figure 1). As part of this Red Cross initiative, CF meetings were established where organisations contributing CF could present their latest community collected information for discussion and analysis (see figure 3), with escalation to decision-makers as needed.…”

“…This feedback was intended to be used: (1) to help the Red Cross better understand community concerns to guide their internal weekly planning and (2) by the wider Ebola response coordination and decision-making bodies to ensure that community perspectives, perceptions and disease understandings were at the centre of epidemic response strategies, a major recommendation arising from lessons learnt during the West African Ebola epidemic 12 13. Additional detail about the system itself is described elsewhere 14–16…”

Violence against health care workers in a crisis context: A Mixed Cross-Sectional Study in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

“…These may be the consequence of the low level of education among the population and their lack understanding of the disease (23). Indeed, Mueller et al reported an increase in violence against HCWs during the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu (20) that can be explained by the perception of Ebola as a conspiracy not only to raise money but also to exterminate a part of the population (51). Cai et al in China reported that the perpetrators' perception of professional misconduct after the death of a loved one was the main cause of the various forms of aggression towards HCWs (52).…”