{"id":2584,"date":"2026-08-15T05:37:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T05:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2584"},"modified":"2026-08-15T05:37:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T05:37:57","slug":"exhausted-health-workers-in-congo-struggle-to-keep-up-as-ebola-outpaces-contact-tracing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2584","title":{"rendered":"Exhausted health workers in Congo struggle to keep up as Ebola outpaces contact tracing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NIZI, Congo (AP) \u2014 Every day, community health worker G\u00e9d\u00e9on Banga Ngbape and his team fan out across communities in eastern Congo<\/span> looking for people who may have crossed paths with the country\u2019s fastest-growing Ebola<\/span> outbreak in history.<\/p>\n

Read more Youngest Black professor at Cambridge who faced plagiarism claims is found dead<\/a><\/p>\n

The workers investigate dozens of alerts, search for those exposed to suspected or confirmed cases and try to get anyone showing symptoms into care before the virus spreads further.<\/p>\n

But the surveillance system is increasingly failing to keep pace with the virus. Between 60% and 70% of new Ebola cases are being detected among people who were not already being monitored as contacts, meaning health workers may only discover infections after patients become sick and have had opportunities to expose others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf surveillance does not work well, the entire response suffers,\u201d Ngbape said. \u201cSurveillance is the engine of a response.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The outbreak has killed over 2,200 people out of more than 4,700 cases, according to the latest government figures. This death toll has been reached almost three times faster than in the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa \u2014 the worst in history. That outbreak claimed over 11,000 lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are chasing the virus; the virus is ahead of us,\u201d said WHO regional director for Africa, Dr. Mohamed Yakub Janabi, this week.<\/p>\n

U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher on Friday announced an additional $30.5 million in emergency funding to help tackle the Ebola outbreak.<\/p>\n

Response teams work long hours, often without pay<\/h2>\n

In Nizi, Ngbape\u2019s surveillance teams say they receive an average of 60 to 70 alerts a day. They move through communities to investigate suspected infections, follow people who have been in contact with suspected or confirmed cases and direct those showing possible symptoms to health facilities.<\/p>\n

The work can stretch deep into the night.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI leave in the morning at 8 and return around 11 p.m., sometimes midnight,\u201d Ngbape said. \u201cI still have to follow up and plan the next activities. I feel really tired, but what matters to me is always being of service to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He did not say how many days a week he works or how often he is able to take time off.<\/p>\n

Community health workers who go door to door face risks of their own. Ana Ndroy Kasime, a community health worker in Nizi, said she visits homes to educate residents about Ebola and reports suspected cases to health officials. But she said workers like her lack basic protective supplies.<\/p>\n

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