{"id":7870,"date":"2021-05-27T16:47:37","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T14:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/?p=7870"},"modified":"2021-05-28T12:21:21","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T10:21:21","slug":"what-is-the-current-status-of-the-vaccination-campaign-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/blog\/2021\/05\/27\/ou-en-est-la-campagne-de-vaccination-en-rd-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the current status of the vaccination campaign in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The vaccination campaign in Congo officially began on 19 April. One month later, only 20,000 doses had been administered to a population of over 90 million. We spoke to our partners at \u00c9toile du Sud in Congo about the campaign\u2019s difficult start and the role of social movements.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is the vaccination campaign going in Congo?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Erick Kambale, Chair of the Board of Directors at \u00c9toile du Sud: \u00abOn 10 March, the Ministry of Health announced the vaccination campaign but postponed it by a few days until April. Public sentiment regarding the campaign is mixed. There are doubts about whether the disease is actually present in the Congo and about the need to get vaccinated. Even amongst our health campaigners, who are helping to inform the public, some are also questioning this, despite their role being to inform and raise awareness amongst people.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abPeople are asking questions because the Ministry of Health is not providing clear information about the vaccine\u2019s composition,\u00bb explains Dr Jean Bosco Bongo. \u00abThis is fuelling mistrust. For us in the health sector too, this information is vital so that we can inform people properly and convince them to get vaccinated. Training is needed on how the authorities will manage the campaign, and on how we should use and administer the various vaccines. Only then will we be able to go door-to-door to inform the public. The campaign, originally scheduled for March, was postponed following reports of side effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine. The government wanted to gather further data but did not explain this sufficiently to the public.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abFrom the very start of the pandemic, people were sceptical about the disease due to a lack of information about the virus,\u00bb according to Mamie Meta, head of gender projects in Haut-Katanga province. \u00abIn our work, we hear a lot of speculation and rumours, such as the idea that it is a disease affecting only white people and the wealthy. That is why we emphasise raising awareness of social distancing and hygiene measures. There are also doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccines, particularly given the numerous mutations of the virus.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abSome healthcare professionals are also sceptical and give credence to rumours, or openly say that they will not get vaccinated,\u00bb says Jean Bosco Bongo. \u00abThis is a major risk. Working in the healthcare sector without being vaccinated can lead to widespread infection. And, as well as being in the healthcare sector, we are also parents or carers for other people. Those who need to convince others must first be convinced themselves. Furthermore, our staff need more protective equipment and financial recognition for their efforts, as has been the case in the West.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What role does \u00c9toile du Sud play in the vaccination campaign?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u00abSince the outbreak of the coronavirus, our priority has been to raise awareness,\u00bb says Sylvie Luzala, chair of the national board of \u00c9toile du Sud. \u00abEven before we\u2019d received any instructions from the government or the World Health Organisation, we went door-to-door to inform people about the importance of hygiene and social distancing rules. We sent health campaigners into working-class neighbourhoods, including those where people have no access to the radio, television or print media and are unaware of the information provided by the government. We are continuing to do the same to explain to the public that the vaccine is the best solution to overcoming this pandemic.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00abTogether with our healthcare activists, we are close to the local community,\u00bb says Jean Bosco Bongo. \u00abWe also have a mobile clinic. Thanks to these facilities, we can inform the public about the importance of the vaccine. During previous pandemics, we were just as sceptical, and we saw the consequences. Today, the virus is spreading at breakneck speed across the globe. That is why we must get vaccinated to protect ourselves and those around us, and to stop the virus from spreading.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abThrough our community health committees, we want to provide people with accurate information to make them aware of the importance of vaccination\u00bb \u2013 Mamie Meta, head of gender projects in Haut-Katanga province<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Social media spreads a great deal of inaccurate information. Mamie Meta: \u00abThrough our community health committees, we want to provide people with accurate information to make them aware of the importance of vaccination. This requires a great deal of effort and additional resources, particularly to reach the most remote villages and population groups. We have found that many people in these areas were not even aware of the virus.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even today, \u00c9toile du Sud does not wait for instructions from above to encourage people to get vaccinated. Erick Kambale: \u00abOur message is that the vaccine must be available to everyone in the Congo. Because an unvaccinated person can continue to infect many others, particularly as the virus mutates. That is the message we are trying to get across without actually talking about the vaccine itself, because we face credibility issues due to a lack of official scientific information. We are therefore focusing on the importance of the vaccine and the fact that it should be accessible to everyone.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a population of over 90 million, only 1.7 million doses are available, according to the Ministry of Health. Meanwhile, the Congolese government has decided to distribute the 1.3 million doses of AstraZeneca it received through the COVAX initiative to other African countries, due to reported side effects and mistrust amongst the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erick Kambale: \u00abThe small number of doses available is discouraging people even further. Who will receive the vaccine and who won\u2019t? We need even more health campaigners to raise awareness on a wider scale. We need time. Even if the minister were to issue guidelines for Covid-19 vaccination today, they would only be useful if the public actually gets vaccinated. But at present, there are no government initiatives to raise awareness on a large scale. And it is precisely to meet this challenge that we want to train and mentor even more health campaigners, equipping them properly so they can get out into the community.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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> Support the \u00abShare the vaccine, not the virus\u00bb campaign\u00bb<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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> Sign the European Citizens\u00ab Initiative \u00bbNo Profit from the Pandemic\u2019<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The vaccination campaign in the Congo officially began on 19 April. One month later, only 20,000 doses had been administered to a population of over 85 million. We spoke to our partners at \u00c9toile du Sud in Congo about the campaign\u2019s difficult start and the role of social movements.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":7862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"La campagne de vaccination au Congo a d\u00e9marr\u00e9 officiellement le 19 avril. Un mois plus tard, 20.000 doses seulement ont \u00e9t\u00e9 administr\u00e9es pour une population de plus de 85 millions d\u2019habitants. Nous nous sommes entretenus avec nos partenaires d\u2019\u00c9toile du Sud au Congo, concernant la difficile mise en route de la campagne et le r\u00f4le des mouvements sociaux.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"O\u00f9 en est la campagne de vaccination en RD Congo ?","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[235,196,270,534],"pays":[892],"class_list":["post-7870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-geen-onderdeel-van-een-categorie","tag-coronavirus-2-fr","tag-covid-19-fr","tag-vaccin-fr","tag-vaccinatiecampagne-fr","pays-rd-congo"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7870"},{"taxonomy":"pays","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivasalud.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pays?post=7870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}