Exploring Alternative Care Platforms for Symptomatic People in the Fight against the Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak.

Treatment centers (TCs) are the only locations designed to care for people with Ebola virus disease (EVD) symptoms. These people and their families are held at a TC as soon as they arrive at an Ebola treatment center (ETC); however, some people escape from TCs. This paper explored alternative care platforms for symptomatic people in the fight against the EVD outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Community Involvement in Response to Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic in North Kivu and Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo: A Mixed-Methods Study.

We investigated the involvement of community members in response to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This cross-sectional study, conducted using mixed methods of data collection, included a uniformly structured questionnaire survey, which was administered to 800 randomly selected adults (aged ≥ 18 years). Further, we used qualitative tools of inquiry-focus group discussions (FGD) and in-depth interviews (IDI)-to guide the context of the information collected in the survey.

Two Obstacles in Response Efforts to the Ebola Epidemic in the Provinces of North Kivu and Ituri in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Denial of and Rumors about the Disease.

Denial and rumors are two major obstacles impairing the implementation of activities in response to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic. This study investigated the roles of denial and rumors, among other challenges, in complicating the response to the EVD outbreak in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A total of 800 randomly selected respondents were surveyed using a structured questionnaire.