The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing its 17th Ebola epidemic, which health officials fear could be the deadliest since 1976: from mid-May to 29 August, nearly 6,000 confirmed cases and close to 2,900 deaths were reported, a fatality rate of 48.1%, with roughly 900 patients in isolation and 1,330 recovered. Six provinces are affected, but the epicentre remains Ituri — a region long home to the Communauté Emmanuel, where missionaries sent by the Swiss Evangelical Free Church (FREE) served for decades.
"I know Ituri well because we worked there," said Yvonne Dind, a former missionary at Nyankunde and now a member of Église de Villard (FREE) in Lausanne, noting that fear of the disease makes isolated patients "literally invisible" to their families, since visits are banned and even traditional funeral rites are restricted for safety. Some patients flee to other villages to avoid health authorities, spreading the virus further, though Jean-Luc Simbilyabo of Radio Télé Évangile Réconciliation reports a "noticeable improvement" at the evangelical medical centre in Nyankunde, where Swiss missionaries served as doctors, nurses, builders and radio technicians between 1954 and 1991.
(Originally published in French. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: La Fraternité Romande d'Évangélisation (FREE) — lafree.ch
