Rebuilding community trust after attacks on Ebola treatment facilities in DRC: lessons from previous epidemics

Abstract

Throughout human history, outbreaks of new and known highly lethal infectious diseases have evoked fear, suspicion, anger, and social disruption in communities within country of origin and neighbouring regions. [1] From plague, smallpox to the influenza, cholera Ebola, Lassa fever, Marburg virus disease, and COVID-19, communities worldwide have often viewed health workers, public health authorities, isolation facilities, and burial teams with mistrust and anxiety. Such reactions should not be attributed to ignorance alone.