TABLE.

Community Feedback Comments in Ebola-Affected Health Zones by Theme and Code, Eastern DRC, August 2018 to February 2020 (N=315,820)

Themes, Codes (Typea)N%Representative Quotations
1: Ebola epidemic, EVD reality56,67218
Questions about the Ebola epidemic (Q)13,110

  • Since the beginning of the response to EVD how many confirmed cases of Ebola have there been? When will Ebola end?

  • Why does your Ebola pick…mothers and children?

  • Does Ebola really exist here in [my community]?

Perceptions, beliefs about Ebola outbreak locally (RBO)9,485

  • EBOLA doesn't exist here in [my community].

  • The Ebola you're talking about here is not the Ebola we saw on the television of Equateur because we never saw someone who has blood on his body.

Ebola does not exist (RBO)6,574

  • Ebola doesn't exist. Ebola is not real, it's to postpone the elections.

  • It's politics, it's not real.

2: Medical diagnosis, treatment47,17515
Questions about EVD diagnosis, treatment (Q)11,071

  • Are there any medicines that can cure the Ebola virus disease?

  • After how many days can a sick person who goes to the ETC be healed?

  • Why would they not want to construct the ETC here among us at [my community]?

Improve health care (S)10,747

  • We need to bring in real doctors like the doctors who worked at the beginning of the outbreak, since there were recoveries then.

  • Free care should continue until the end of this epidemic

Mistrust of Ebola treatment center (RBO)7,694

  • The health care workers are currently killing people and taking their bodies.

  • A person can arrive at the hospital in good health, but in a few minutes he dies.

3: Ebola vaccine, vaccination36,09311
Expand or modify vaccination program (S)14,106

  • Vaccinate the whole population against Ebola disease.

  • We call on the government and the WHO to vaccinate us without discrimination.

  • Set up vaccination centers in all neighborhoods.

Vaccine suspicions (RBO)7,149

  • There are two types of vaccine: injection of Ebola virus disease and injection of vaccine for recovery.

  • Your vaccine causes abortion in pregnant women.

  • The Ebola vaccine will kill us in 5 years.

Questions about unfair vaccine distribution (Q)6,388

  • Why aren't you vaccinating the entire population?

  • Are there not means to vaccinate all the social categories of the DRC?

4: Ebola response feedback33,31911
Questions about response processes (Q)11,152

  • Why make so much money available for vehicle hire, luxury hotels, etc. [rather] than multiplying the machines or laboratories that analyze or test for Ebola?

  • How come others raise awareness and bring us handwashing units, yet you, you come with empty hands?

  • Why are the hospitals being guarded by armed men?

Thank you, not further specified (A)6,996

  • We thank the response team for their work in the field.

  • The community thanks the response team for the service provided; thanks to it the community has been saved.

Statements about response staff (RBO)6,498

  • We trust the rescuers, they convinced us that the disease exists.

  • We doubt the disease today since the agents of response do not want to proclaim the end of the Ebola virus disease…

  • People on the outbreak response have their personal interests.

5: Ebola profit and politics30,60610
Ebola is a “business” (or someone is profiting) (RBO)12,771

  • Ebola can't end because the agents' lives have changed; they earn money from it.

  • We want the responders to be replaced because those who are there now earn a lot and don't want Ebola to disappear for good.

Ebola is a political tool (RBO)9,652

  • Ebola is a conspiracy of whites in collaboration with our politicians.

  • We know that the Ebola disease exists, but it is politicized.

Ebola is used for harming people (by political leaders or through political action) (RBO)5,131

  • The response teams are not there to save the lives of the population, but rather for their private interest and to kill the Nande people.

  • Ebola is politics of the Congolese government; our authorities want to exterminate us by spreading Ebola.

Grand total315,820100

  • Abbreviations: DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo; ETC, EVD treatment center; EVD, Ebola virus disease; WHO, World Health Organization.

  • ↵a Comment text code type: Q, question; RBO, statement of rumor, belief, or observation; S, suggestion; A, appreciation.

  • Two individual codes that were not part of the 5 major themes stood out because they accounted for more than 10,000 comments each: “Thank you for Ebola awareness efforts” (n=16,475) and “Provide handwashing station(s)” (n=15,218).