A Congolese journalist who had been raising awareness about the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been killed at his home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\narmy said unidentified attackers raided Papy Mumbere Mahamba’s home in Lwebma,\nin the north-eastern province of Ituri, killing him, wounding his wife and\nburning their house down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DR\nCongo is experiencing the world’s second-worst Ebola epidemic on record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People\nworking to stop the virus are often targeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nBBC World Service’s Africa editor Will Ross says over the past year there have\nbeen dozens of attacks on health centres and on people working to stop Ebola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nviolence is thought to be fuelled by the belief among many people that the\nvirus is not real, which can lead to mistrust of those working in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When\nmedics call for people to forgo traditional rites to ensure safe burials, for\nexample, it can create animosity. Some people even feel Ebola is a hoax created\nby medics to get well-paid jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\nhappened?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr\nMahamba had just hosted an Ebola awareness programme on a community radio\nstation when the attack took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prof\nSteve Ahuka, national co-ordinator of the fight against Ebola, confirmed the\nreports from the army that a “community worker” involved in the fight\nagainst Ebola had been killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A\njournalist at Radio Lwemba, the local radio station where he worked, also\nconfirmed the details. Jacques Kamwina told AFP news agency that Mahamba had\nbeen stabbed to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nis the situation with Ebola in the DRC?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nDRC declared an Ebola epidemic in August 2018. More than 2,000 lives have been\nlost amid a total of 3,000 confirmed infections, according to the World Health\nOrganization (WHO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\noutbreak is affecting the DRC’s North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In July,\u00a0the WHO said the situation there was a “public health emergency of international concern.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Efforts\nto control the outbreak have been hampered by violence against healthcare\nworkers and Ebola treatment facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nis Ebola?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n BBC<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Congolese journalist who had been raising awareness about the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been killed at his home. The army said unidentified attackers raided Papy Mumbere Mahamba’s home in Lwebma, in the north-eastern province of Ituri, killing him, wounding his wife and burning their house down. DR Congo is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":11955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-11953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n