Ebola preparedness efforts in western Uganda
The vigilant Sheikh Bundibugyo
For the unsuspecting people of Nyankonda, life goes on as usual despite a terminal threat hovering around. Only a few kilometres away across the border, Ebola has been causing havoc for some time. Ominously, the ongoing Kivu Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has claimed over 600 lives in the 7 months since its declaration in August-2018, continues to loom large in the bordering districts of Uganda.
Nyankonda, a small village in Busunga Parish of the Bundibugyo District, is situated on the edge of the Bundibugyo Road that ends at the ‘Busunga Port of Entry’, presently a critical passageway on the Congo-Ugandan border in the wake of the latest Ebola outbreak in DRC. This port of entry - being one of the busiest exits for the Congolese itinerants to cross into Uganda, is closely being observed nowadays by the district health authorities in Bundibugyo due to its adjacency to DRC’s Nord Kivu Province - the epicenter of the outbreak. Among the largely forgetful inhabitants of Nyankonda, Sheikh Mustafa, an Imam at the local mosque, chooses to be overly circumspect when it comes to Ebola.
"I have been an unfortunate witness to deaths inflicted by Ebola when it spread around the township of Bundibugyo last time”
citing the sad demise of a lady from his community called Mrs. Rose Hassan Bulimpikia who served as a nurse at the Isolation Unit at the Bundibugyo Hospital before dying of Ebola during the 2007 outbreak.
Sheikh Mustafa has been serving as an honorary Imam at ‘Busunga Masjid Taqwa’ for over 20 years. For his livelihood however, he runs a thriving Mandazi bakery. He professes his allegiance to the ‘Ugandan Muslim Supreme Council’ and follows the office of the District Qadhi on religious matters. The Imam attributes his erudition in ‘Shafi’i School of Thought’ to an Islamic Scholar from Mityana named Sheikh Suleiman, who tutored him in religious and corporeal matters during his adolescence.
Evidently, his role as an Imam dignifies him not only among his own people, but among the neighbouring communities also. He has been humbly employing this eminence in enabling people around him to attain positive social changes. For some time, he has been engaged in activities aimed at water and sanitation improvement in his locality. At the request of the District Health Department, on 1st of March, 2019, he also participated in an orientation of the local leaders on Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) prevention.
Lately the Sheikh has been communicating with community members relentlessly about the imminent threat of Ebola and the ways to prevent it.
“In addition to addressing people daily on the Ebola threat after the daytime prayers, I infuse key health messages in my Friday sermons explaining how maintaining better personal hygiene and sanitation standards can avert diseases even as deadly as Ebola”
Besides educating the regular visitors at his mosque, he has also been reaching out to the other mosques in his locality. Influenced by him, Imams of three neighbouring mosques have also taken up EVD risk-communication among their followers.
Reprising his disposition to improve things in his area, he expressed his intentions to sensitise all Imams and pastors in the vicinity on the urgent issue of preventing Ebola through intensive risk-communication during congregations.
“In difficult times, religious leaders need to go beyond their regular devotional themes and advocate exigent action-plans to fight the existing crises. Ebola being an imminent threat to people’s lives, definitely warrants this approach”
Since the declaration of the Nord Kivu outbreak in DRC, UNICEF-Uganda has been extensively involved in scaling-up EVD prevention efforts in the bordering districts of Uganda by intensifying risk-communication through interpersonal communications and mass-media.
It supported orientation of 2800 community influencers on EVD preparedness. According to a recent update from the UNICEF Regional Office of Eastern and South African countries, by the end of February 2019, UNICEF-Uganda had utilised more than USD 2.7 million toward supporting Ebola preparedness activities. As of 13th March 2019, UNICEF had reached 865,865 people through Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) volunteers by means of 191,232 household visits and 10,480 community/group meetings.
Recent trends in the DRC show a considerable slowdown in the EVD transmission. However, sustained civil unrest and weaker health systems in the affected regions might reverse the course in no time. Therefore, the neighbourhood needs to be relentlessly vigilant until the closure of the outbreak in DRC. In this drive, religious leaders like Sheikh Mustafa play a decisive role as they wield formidable persuasive powers among their people and are generally considered the wisest and most reliable voices among the communities.
