The Kenyan Government has asked faith communities to back its health initiatives as churches adopted techniques developed during the Covid-19 pandemic to prevent the spread of Ebola. Source: The Tablet.
By late October, authorities had confirmed nine cases, two of them fatal. The cases are of the more deadly Bundibugyo strain. The health ministry said there was no community transmission and sought support of churches and faith groups to prevent a possible outbreak.
Last week, the health ministry asked priests, pastors and other faith leaders to integrate health messages into sermons, announcements and community programs, to help dispel rumours, encourage early reporting and ensure an environment of dignity and support.
The request acknowledged that the government depends on churches’ moral authority and widespread reach to deliver preventive messages across the country.
Many churches had already begun promoting regular handwashing with soap and clean water, urging compassion over stigma, and providing guidance on safe burial practices.
However, churches and other faith leaders have demanded more government transparency, increased health surveillance and more preparedness, such as ready quarantine and treatment centres to check local spread of the disease.
In June, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) objected to government plans for a quarantine and treatment facility for Ebola patients in an airbase in Nanyuki, in central-northern Kenya. The bishops said Kenyans were concerned that the facility was being imposed on them, since it would serve foreigners who could bring the disease into the country.
The first Ebola patient in Kenya – one of the two who have died – had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The second who died was a 65-year-old relative of the first patient, while the seven others who are receiving treatment in isolation centres include family members and health workers who interacted with the first case.
Nigeria confirmed one case of the Bundibugyo strain. The patient is a Uganda born-wife a Swiss diplomat in Abuja. It is not clear if she had travelled to DRC, where the outbreak was reported in May, before spreading to Uganda.
Churches in DRC continue to respond to the disease, with the death toll reaching 4700 out of 9700 cases spread across eight provinces,
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Kenyan government seeks churches’ help to contain spread of Ebola (By Fredrick Nzwili, The Tablet)
