Bunia, May 18th, 2026 (CPA).- The involvement of the media and churches has been solicited on Monday by the commission of sensitization to the Ebola virus disease, as part of the response to this epidemic declared in Bunia, Ituri province, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“We must now produce awareness-raising spots in French, Swahili, Lingala and even Kilendu in order to effectively reach all communities. The media, churches and entry points must be enlisted to help, especially as this outbreak is also affecting neighbouring Uganda,” has declared Innocent Tandema, honorary president of the communications committee within the provincial response coordination in Ituri from 2018 to 2019. Responding to this new outbreak, he has indicated that the emergence of the Bundibugyo strain is an alarming situation for Ituri, unlike the 2018 epidemic caused by the Zaire strain, which, he has said, had been brought under control thanks to the involvement of response teams and local communities.
“In 2018, we had faced the Zaire strain, which we had managed to bring under control thanks to the mobilisation of the entire response team. But this time, it is the Bundibugyo strain, which requires a media blitz,” he has added. He has also felt that this situation calls for new approaches to community awareness, following Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe’s statements regarding the lack of a vaccine against this variant of the virus. “Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe has said that there is no vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain. This requires new awareness-raising strategies and the rapid involvement of all the actors”, he has noted. “We now have trained staff, surveillance mechanisms, laboratories and better coordination between health authorities and partners,” has concluded Mr Tandema.