In Ituri Province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, safe and dignified burials are playing a critical role in the fight against Ebola. The disease spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, and certain burial practices can expose family members to the virus without appropriate protective measures. When the current outbreak began, health teams faced considerable mistrust in some communities, with some families hesitating to report deaths or organizing funerals on their own. In some cases, bodies already buried were exhumed to allow relatives to carry out traditional rites.
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