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SPIEGEL ONLINE: Ms Kerr, the current Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has raged for more than a year. Why is the disease so hard to stop?
Kerr: The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most complex countries in the world. It's huge, spanning two time zones and made up of 26 provinces, each functioning like a separate country. It takes more than two hours to fly from the capital, Kinshasa, to Goma, just as long as from London to Madrid. The people here are constantly on the move because they are fleeing or because they commute between the individual provinces and neighboring countries to make a living.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: So would all borders have to be closed?
Kerr: That would be impossible to implement. More importantly, people go to a treatment center as soon as the first symptoms appear. If they are treated within one to three days, they have a good chance of being healed. If not, there is a high risk that the disease will be fatal. Without therapy about 70 percent of those affected die. Unfortunately, there are still too few to handle.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why is that?
Kerr: There is still a lot of mistrust in the population. Many consider Ebola a myth - invented by drug companies to make money. And quite a few believe that vaccines are first infected with Ebola. Again and again treatment centers have been attacked. Although there have been significantly fewer attacks recently, mobile units that drive through towns and villages are still at risk. This year alone, there were more than 200 attacks on helpers.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: How can mistrust be reduced?
Kerr: That's one of our most important tasks. We are in constant contact with people, clarifying the symptoms and the disease and how to treat it. Many survivors support us. They talk about the therapy and how they were healed. This is how we are making progress slowly. In the past, Ebola survivors were often ostracized, but today this is less the case.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Save the children is committed to the needs of children. How much do you suffer from the epidemic?
Kerr: So far, there are about 700 registered cases of Ebola in children, more than 500 died. Their mortality rate is even higher than in adults. In addition, the disease has made hundreds of children half or full orphans. At least 2,400 more are permanently separated from their families because of the disease.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What happens to these children?
Kerr: The lack of family protection makes them more vulnerable to violence and abuse. In addition, school fees have recently been demanded, the orphans are difficult to raise. It is estimated that 60 percent of children have no access to health care. And Ebola is far from the only threat to children. Many of them had to watch as members were killed or injured, or they were themselves attacked.
Congo - one name, two states
In central Africa there is the "Democratic Republic of the Congo" with the capital Kinshasa as well as the "Republic of the Congo" with the capital Brazzaville. The border of both countries runs partly along the river Congo. At the Congo Conference of the European colonial powers 1884/85 in Berlin, the French received the smaller territory of today's Republic of Congo. The Belgian King Leopold II secured the territory of today's Democratic Republic of Congo and made it his private colony, which he ruthlessly exploited.
In 1960, both the Belgian and the French colony gained their independence. After several name changes (including Zaire) is the former Belgian colony since 1997 "Democratic Republic of the Congo", the former French colony since 1991 "Republic of the Congo". For the sake of readability, we generally use the simple term "Congo" in our texts for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What hope do you put in the newly developed vaccinations?
Kerr: Currently, mainly medical helpers and those directly affected are being vaccinated. Then the people who had contact with the infected, then the contacts of the contact persons and so on. To be able to curb the epidemic, but significantly more people would have to be vaccinated. The same applies to the drugs used. Although they can increase the survival rate, they really can not stem the disease. In addition, no drug is officially approved as a remedy for Ebola.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: When do you think the epidemic could be contained?
Kerr: That's hard to gauge. I really hope she will not last another year. But we can not say for sure. In the meantime, we kept hoping that the disease could be contained. However, the case numbers have risen slightly recently. A big setback was the recent outbreak in South Kivu. A young mother died, and her child had become infected. Thus, the disease has penetrated further to the south than ever before. The fight is far from over.
This article is part of the project Global Society, for which our reporters report from four continents. The project is long-term and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
What is the project Global Society?
Under the title Global Society, reporters from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe will be reporting on injustices in a globalized world, socio-political challenges and sustainable development. The reportages, analyzes, photo galleries, videos and podcasts appear in the Politics Department of SPIEGEL. The project is long-term and will be supported over three years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
Are the journalistic contents independent of the foundation?
Yes. The editorial content is created without the influence of the Gates Foundation.
Do other media have similar projects?
Yes. Major European media such as "The Guardian" and "El País" have created similar sections on their news pages with "Global Development" or "Planeta Futuro" with the support of the Gates Foundation.
Was there already similar projects at SPIEGEL ONLINE?
Over the past few years, SPIEGEL ONLINE has already implemented two projects with the European Journalism Center (EJC) and the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The "Expedition of the Day" on Global Sustainability Goals and the journalistic refugee project "The New Arrivals" Several award-winning multimedia reports on the topics of migration and escape have emerged.
Where can I find all the publications on the Global Society?
The pieces can be found at SPIEGEL ONLINE on the topic page Global Society.