Congo radio station fights Ebola misinformation as outbreak kills 63

A radio station in eastern Congo launched a daily program featuring health specialists to counter a surge of misinformation surrounding the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, which has infected 381 people and killed at least 63 since being declared last month, according to The Korea Times.

With no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain and the virus now reaching 24 health zones — up from three at the outbreak's start — public trust has become as critical a front as medicine in what officials say is Congo's 17th Ebola outbreak since 1976.

Radio Television Mont Bleu, based in Bunia in Ituri province, airs a 45-minute program each morning at 10 a.m. in which health specialists provide updates and take listener questions. The station also broadcasts informational jingles about the virus throughout the day, The Korea Times reported.

"So far, there's still a layer of resistance within the population, and that's where the media plays an important role," said Verite Johnson, a journalist and editorial secretary at the station.

Public skepticism runs deep in Bunia. Samson Gerson, a 52-year-old father of seven, said he believes health authorities are motivated by profit rather than care. "They don't separate people who have Ebola from those who have the flu at the hospital. Given the manner in which people are treated, we deduce it is about money. I can never take the vaccine — I prefer to die, because if the vaccine arrives, it can scare us even more," Gerson told The Korea Times.

The distrust has turned violent: at least three attacks have been launched against health centers, according to The Korea Times. Doubts about reported deaths also circulate widely through phones. "We don't even know what the body of a person who died of Ebola looks like, but we just see images and montages on our phone," said Chantal Francine, a Bunia resident.

Basile Rambaud, emergency programs director for Mercy Corps in Congo, said imposing solutions on skeptical communities only deepens the crisis. "What is key is to involve the local actors at all levels. If we try to impose what we think is right to the community, we are running towards failure. If people do not trust the response, they end up delaying seeking care, rejecting protective measures or avoiding working with health teams, giving the virus more time to spread," Rambaud said.

The outbreak — Congo's 17th since the virus was first identified there in 1976 — has been further complicated by armed conflict. The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group and the Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Force have driven mass displacement, hampering health-worker access to affected areas. Early containment was also slowed when initial laboratory testing focused on the wrong type of Ebola, The Korea Times reported.

Johnson said her station will not stop broadcasting despite the pushback. "Everyone is free to think what they want, but the information remains the same. The epidemic is here," she said.