Health workers in Ebola-hit countries are facing not only the risk of being infected by the virus but also the strong opposition and attacks from the locals, especially in Guinea.
As reported by the New York Times on Thursday, February 12, Red Crescent Societies and Red Cross health workers are regularly attacked over the past few months by the locals, especially during burials.
The volunteers are attacked around 10 times a month, according to the latest reports. These include one in Sunday, February 8, when a pair of workers was severely beaten as they try to assist a burial.
Although Ebola is not airborne, people can still contract the virus through touching or being exposed to the bodily fluid of an infected person. In a recent study on non-humans, the virus can stay active and therefore contagious even a week after the patient has already died.
The attacks have been escalating since March. While some of them have been verbal, many have gone physical. Twenty-two-year-old Toupo Lopou, who is in Guinea, narrated how, while trying to obtain a blood sample from the dead during a funeral, locals threw rocks at them. One hit her arm, causing her to fall. But the locals only continued with the assault, trampling her.
The head of Red Cross's international committee in Guinea Yann Bonzon shared some significant insights about these attacks. One, most of these incidents happened in areas that have experienced Ebola cases only recently. Others have also been spreading false rumors about the volunteers.
Resistance is common among the three Western African countries badly hit by the virus. However, since it never really peaked in Guinea, it is possible that the locals do not completely understand the severity of the situation, according to Doctors without Borders operations director Brice de le Vigne.