By Canisius Mushibwe
More than a hundred people have died after a meningitis outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Meningitis, a potentially dangerous disease transmitted through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions from infected people, was declared in the north-eastern region of DRC with 120 lives lost.
More than 100 people are receiving treatment at home and in health facilities after the disease broke out in July.
The outbreak took longer to be managed because people in communities did not believe that it was a disease based on superstitions of it being linked to witchcraft.
Many have died due to this oversight as the community’s unresponsive nature caused the hope from one place to another believing the disease won’t follow them instead of seeking for treatment.
The DRC government and the World Health Organisation have now deployed a team to the north-eastern province of Tshopo to manage the situation.
