TIME has reached out to the Congolese Health Ministry for comment.
‘We are all at risk if we don’t stop it’
Sebushishe, who is Congolese and grew up in Goma, says that the risks of infection and violence are not enough to keep him from continuing his work.
“I know that if we don’t stop this outbreak from wherever it has reached, it will spread farther,” he tells TIME. “It will reach our own families and ourselves. So we are all at risk if we don’t stop it.”
“Viruses don’t respect borders and can use weaknesses in our global health security systems to thrive and propagate. So it’s in the best interest of everyone—Americans included—to keep these systems strong,” Pham said.
Sebushishe says his team has made massive strides in increasing trust and cooperation from the community by including them in decision-making.
“We involve the community from the conception, from the planning of each of the projects,” he says. When they are building a treatment center, for instance, they bring in community leaders, show them the building site, ask for feedback, and ask them to help spread the message to others in the community.
Read the full article here
