Universities in DRC, Guinea may face threat of Ebola

As the world approaches the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic, the threat of Ebola is re-emerging in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has put these West and Central African nations on high alert and has placed the spotlight on the preparedness of universities to manage these health threats.

As a result of the Ebola outbreak in the town of Gouécké in southern Guinea and in the North Kivu province in the eastern part of the DRC, the World Health Organization has asked six West African countries to be on the alert for potential Ebola infections: Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

“We must do everything in our power to respond quickly, effectively, and with commensurate resources to stop these outbreaks before they become large-scale epidemics,” the US government said in a statement on 16 February.

Ebola infections

Professor Robert Colebunders from the Global Health Institute in Belgium told University World News: “Ebola, in contrast to COVID-19, does not spread so easily as it is not spread through the air but only through direct contact with body fluids of an infected person.

“Today, it should be relatively easy to control an Ebola outbreak through early diagnosis of cases, isolation, contact tracing and quarantine of contacts and vaccination,” added Colebunders, who is the initiator and coordinator of the International Citizen Project COVID-19, which monitors adherence to pandemic health protocols.

According to him, the recent experience with the Ebola outbreak in the same area – which ended only three months ago – was the result of instability in the area and the non-collaboration of part of the local population. As a result, it took longer to control the outbreak.

“If the international community reacts quickly to control the current Ebola outbreak in North Kivu, there will be no risk of becoming contaminated for university students who live outside the affected area,” said Colebunders.

“Moreover, all the COVID-19 preventive measures could also help to prevent Ebola transmission,” he said.

Universities face a double threat

Claude Kasereka Masumbuko, the head of the medical school at the Catholic University of Graben, DRC, and medical director for the Association of Health Innovation in Africa, told University World News he was in Butembo (Katwa) where Ebola cases have been reported.

“Schools and universities have been closed since December last year due to COVID, but will open on 22 February. People have been putting a lot of pressure on the government … markets and churches are open, with no social distancing,” said Masumbuko.

“Universities in the DRC have no specific plan or regulation to protect students and the academic community from either COVID-19 or Ebola and the risk of human-to-human transmission from direct or close contact with people with symptoms are high,” he pointed out.

“We have crowded classes … applying social distancing is not possible. Talking about regulations in universities is more about formalities … It is media talk,” Masumbuko said.

According to a 17 February decision by the DRC Minister of Higher and University Education Thomas Luhaka, universities and higher education institutions in the DRC were set to re-open with strict adherence to COVID-19 prevention measures on 22 February after all higher educational institutions were closed on 18 December last year to face the second wave of the coronavirus.

The first semester for the academic year 2020-21 will run from 22 February until 26 May and the exams start on 9 June and end on 19 June.

The second semester will start on 9 July and end on 29 August and the exams will start on 12 October and end on 22 October.

The academic graduation ceremony and closing of the 2020-21 academic year will take place on 30 October. The 2021-22 academic year will start on 14 December 2021.

According to UNESCO, 464,678 university students have been affected by closures of higher learning institutions in the DRC.

Worldometer’s COVID-19 data show that the DRC had a cumulative total of 24,794 COVID-19 cases and 695 deaths on 18 February.

Impact on university community

Ifeanyi McWilliams Nsofor, the director of policy and advocacy for Nigeria Health Watch, told University World News that Ebola outbreaks in Guinea and the DRC during a COVID-19 global pandemic was a double whammy for both countries and would “definitely affect universities and higher learning institutions across West and Central Africa”.

“For starters, students from both countries are travelling back to their universities and higher education institutions would be subjected to more screenings and their trips may be delayed as a result,” said Nsofor, who is also the senior new voices fellow at the US-based Aspen Institute and senior Atlantic fellow for health equity at George Washington University.

“One would not be surprised if the authorities of higher learning educational institutions and governments demand that students show evidence of Ebola vaccination before travels are allowed,” he said.

“The combined effect of these [due to rigorous screening, travel time and quarantine] would be to affect the resumption of schools,” Nsofor added.

Professor Hypolite Muhindo Mavoko of the department of tropical medicine at the University of Kinshasa, DRC, told University World News that universities in the DRC remain areas where there is a high risk of transmission because they gather crowds of students and because of a lack of sanitary facilities.

“Also, the most affected age group during an Ebola outbreak includes university students and a considerable number of academic staff. Thus universities must be involved in preventative measures,” Mavoko added.

Protecting higher education and public communities

Nsofor said when students return to universities from affected regions they should undergo proper debriefings by authorities of higher learning education institutions to ascertain their travel history, possible contact with those infected and whether they have received an Ebola vaccination.

He added that education authorities should provide for adequate hand-washing points and running water across campuses and should enforce social distancing. Students and faculty should desist from shaking hands, Nsofor pointed out.

University-led community awareness

Decades of civil and international conflict, combined with rampant poverty and extremely weak health and education systems, have led to a corridor of displaced, vulnerable and disadvantaged people living in eastern DRC.

Said Masumbuko: “As a result, persistent Ebola outbreaks have been associated with social resistance, ranging from passive non-compliance to denial of disease.”

He said universities were well-positioned to act as ‘social mobilisers’ and ‘opinion front-runners’ during outbreaks.

Given their knowledge and tacit cultural understanding, “universities can mould messages, empower community members, and promote optimal health outcomes,” he added.

Masumbuko is the lead author of a 2020 study entitled “Ebola crisis in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: Student-led community engagement”.

But Nsofor is hopeful about the continent’s ability to put an end to the Ebola outbreak.

“During the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreaks across West Africa, I led the African health consultancy group’s EpiAFRIC evaluation of the African Union intervention to end that outbreak.

“I am convinced that both countries have the capacity to end these new outbreaks swiftly,” Nsofor concluded.