Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, International University of Health and Welfare, Narita, Japan.
Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
PLoS One. 2020 Oct 22;15(10):e0241120. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241120. eCollection 2020.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) struggled to end the tenth outbreak of Ebola virus disease (Ebola), which appeared in North Kivu in 2018. It was reported that rumors were hampering the response effort. We sought to identify any rumors that could have influenced outbreak containment and affected prevention in unaffected areas of DR Congo.
We conducted a qualitative study in DR Congo over a period of 2 months (from August 1 to September 30, 2019) using in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). The participants were recruited from five regional blocks using purposeful sampling. Both areas currently undergoing outbreaks and presently unaffected areas were included. We collected participants' opinions, views, and beliefs about the Ebola virus. The IDIs (n = 60) were performed with key influencers (schoolteachers, religious and political leaders/analysts, and Ebola-frontline workers), following a semi-structured interview guide. FGDs (n = 10) were conducted with community members. Interviews were recorded with a digital voice recorder and simultaneous note-taking. Participant responses were categorized in terms of their themes and subthemes.
We identified 3 high-level themes and 15 subthemes (given here in parentheses): (1) inadequate knowledge of the origin or cause of Ebola (belief in a metaphysical origin, insufficient awareness of Ebola transmission via an infected corpse, interpretation of disease as God's punishment, belief in nosocomial Ebola, poor hygiene, and bathing in the Congo River). Ebola was interpreted as (2) a plot by multinational corporations (fears of genocide, Ebola understood as a biological weapon, concerns over organ trafficking, and Ebola was taken to be the result of business actions). Finally Ebola was rumored to be subject to (3) politicization (political authorities seen as ambivalent, exclusion of some community leaders from response efforts, distrust of political authorities, and distrust in the healthcare system).
Due to the skepticism against Ebola countermeasures, it is critical to understand widespread beliefs about the disease to implement actions that will be effective, including integrating response with the unmet needs of the population.
刚果民主共和国（DR Congo）努力结束 2018 年在北基伍爆发的第十次埃博拉病毒病（Ebola）疫情。有报道称，谣言阻碍了应对工作。我们试图确定任何可能影响疫情控制并影响刚果民主共和国未受影响地区预防工作的谣言。
我们在刚果民主共和国进行了一项为期 2 个月（2019 年 8 月 1 日至 9 月 30 日）的定性研究，使用深入访谈（IDIs）和焦点小组讨论（FGDs）。参与者是通过目的性抽样从五个地区区块招募的。包括目前正在爆发疫情的地区和目前未受影响的地区。我们收集了参与者对埃博拉病毒的意见、看法和信仰。IDIs（n=60）是在关键影响者（学校教师、宗教和政治领袖/分析师以及埃博拉前线工作人员）中进行的，遵循半结构化访谈指南。与社区成员进行了 FGD（n=10）。采访使用数字语音记录器和同步笔记进行记录。参与者的回复按主题和子主题进行分类。
我们确定了 3 个高级主题和 15 个子主题（此处给出）：（1）对埃博拉病毒的起源或原因的了解不足（相信其具有超自然起源，对通过受感染尸体传播埃博拉病毒的认识不足，将疾病解释为上帝的惩罚，相信院内埃博拉病毒，卫生条件差，以及在刚果河洗澡）。埃博拉病毒被解释为（2）跨国公司的阴谋（对种族灭绝的恐惧，将埃博拉视为生物武器，对器官交易的担忧，以及将埃博拉视为商业行为的结果）。最后，埃博拉病毒被传闻受到（3）政治化的影响（政治当局被认为态度暧昧，将一些社区领导人排除在应对工作之外，对政治当局的不信任，以及对医疗保健系统的不信任）。
由于对埃博拉病毒应对措施的怀疑，了解广泛的疾病观念至关重要，以便采取有效的行动，包括将应对措施与民众的未满足需求结合起来。
