Health workers took to the streets on Saturday in Bunia, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, to demand several months of unpaid wages. The protest comes as the Ebola epidemic has already claimed more than 1,300 lives, according to the latest WHO figures.
The strike broke out in a particularly tense health context. In Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, healthcare workers demonstrated this Saturday to denounce months of unpaid salaries, while they are on the front line in the face of an Ebola epidemic that continues to spread.
The World Health Organization reports more than 1,300 deaths linked to the virus since the start of the outbreak in the DRC. This toll places this outbreak among the deadliest recorded in the country, which remains historically the most affected in the world by Ebola virus disease.
The issue of healthcare workers’ salaries is a recurring problem in the DRC, where the healthcare system suffers from chronic underfunding. Demanding a salary while continuing to care for patients with a highly contagious disease illustrates the situation these workers find themselves in.
