Doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers on the front lines of the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo have reached a breaking point. In northeastern regions, response workers staged protests outside three treatment centres on Thursday, stating they have not been paid all they are owed for their work.
Healthcare workers at the epicenter of the outbreak are walking off their jobs to protest payment delays, unpaid benefits, and deteriorating working conditions. These strikes are concentrated in the hardest-hit areas of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The labor unrest is complicating efforts to contain the virus, which has infected more than 1,700 people and killed at least 580.