贝尼，刚果民主共和国，10月14日 - 卫生工作者和援助机构表示，对埃博拉病毒的恐惧正使东部刚果的妇女和儿童不敢寻求医疗服务，导致孕产妇死亡率飙升、儿童免疫接种率下降，这可能在未来数年对医疗系统造成压力。
BUTEMBO, Democratic Republic of Congo, Oct 14 - The fear of Ebola is keeping women and children from seeking healthcare in eastern Congo, health workers and aid agencies say, contributing to soaring maternal deaths and falling childhood immunization rates that could strain the healthcare system for years to come.
卫生工作者表示，对接触埃博拉病毒的错误焦虑是妇女放弃关键产前检查、选择在家分娩的主要原因，一旦出现并发症，她们死亡的可能性也更高。
Health workers say that misplaced anxiety about contact with Ebola is the primary reason women are forgoing crucial prenatal care and opting to give birth at home, and dying more often in the event of complications.
目前仍缺乏充分数据，但伊图里省的数据正引发警觉。联合国数据显示，伊图里省的孕产妇死亡人数在5月至7月期间较去年同期激增近70%，这是埃博拉疫情对初级医疗系统影响的令人担忧的指标 — — 目前这是刚果有记录以来最严重的埃博拉疫情。国际援助的大幅削减也导致一些救命药物短缺。
There is still limited data available but figures for Ituri province are raising alarm. UN figures show that maternal deaths in Ituri province soared nearly 70% between May and July compared with a year earlier, a troubling indicator of the impact of the Ebola outbreak — currently Congo's worst on record — on the primary healthcare system. Steep international aid cuts have also led to shortages of some life-saving medications.
在东部城市贝尼，马西基卫生中心的护士告诉路透社，自5月埃博拉疫情被宣布以来，该中心产科病房的分娩人数急剧下降。最近一次探访时，只有一位产妇在与新生儿一起休息，而周围是排排空床。
In eastern Butembo city, nurses at the Masiki healthcare center told Reuters that births have fallen sharply at their maternity ward since the Ebola outbreak was declared in May. Just one mother was resting with her newborn during a recent visit, among rows of empty beds.
“她们认为我们给她们的药里含有埃博拉病毒，” 该中心护士长莉莉安·阿德龙加告诉路透社 — — 这只是围绕病毒和医疗的许多毫无根据的猜测之一。
"They think the medicines we give them contain the Ebola virus," head nurse Liliane Adronga told Reuters — highlighting just one of many unfounded suspicions circulating about the virus and healthcare.
阿德龙加描述了妇女们常常在病情严重后才寻求帮助的情况，她回忆起一个最近的案例：一名妇女因未接受治疗的疟疾而被认为已经失去了她的婴儿。
Adronga described how women often avoided seeking care until it was too late, recalling a recent case where a woman was believed to have lost her baby while suffering from untreated malaria.
联合国人口基金（UNFPA）报告称，自疫情爆发以来，5月至7月期间医院分娩人数下降了30%以上，产科并发症的治疗人数下降了50%。儿童错过常规疫苗接种埃博拉疫情已蔓延至七个省份，感染超过8000人，死亡超过4000人。官员表示疫情远未得到控制，尽管部分地区的感染已有所放缓。
The UNFPA has reported a more than 30% drop in hospital deliveries and 50% drop in treatment for obstetric complications for the May to July period since the outbreak began. CHILDREN MISSING ROUTINE VACCINES The Ebola outbreak has spread across seven provinces, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing over 4,000. Officials say it is far from being contained, although infections have slowed in parts of the country.
常规数据收集日益成为挑战，但援助机构表示，疫情爆发前三个月的数据显示，常规儿童疫苗接种和儿科就诊出现急剧下降。
Routine data collection is a growing challenge but aid agencies say data for the first three months of the outbreak shows a sharp fall in routine childhood vaccinations and paediatric visits.
联合国儿童基金会（UNICEF）在8月警告称，在伊图里的埃博拉疫情热点地区，4月至6月期间常规疫苗接种下降超过一半。在蒙戈瓦卢，首剂麻疹疫苗接种率下降了69%。
UNICEF warned in August that routine vaccinations fell by more than half across Ebola hot spots in Ituri between April and June. In Mongbwalu, first-dose measles vaccinations declined by 69%.
“我们不仅要关注埃博拉的直接影响，还要关注其对健康、营养、儿童保护和不安全状况的间接影响，”联合国儿童基金会公共卫生紧急情况专家拉乌尔·卡马德若说。“疫情持续时间越长，风险就越大。”例如，刚果长期面临反复爆发的麻疹疫情，每年记录数万例病例，而根据刚果卫生部的数据，截至2026年，已累计报告12.6万例病例。
"We should be concerned not only about the direct impact of Ebola, but also its indirect effects on health, nutrition, child protection and insecurity," said Raoul Kamadjeu, a public health emergencies expert at UNICEF. "The longer an epidemic persists, the greater the risks." Congo has long struggled with recurring measles outbreaks for example, with tens of thousands of cases recorded every year, and 126,000 cases so far in 2026, according to data by Congo's health ministry.
联合国儿童基金会表示，全省范围内，医疗机构在5月和6月接种的常规疫苗剂量比4月少了2.3万剂。错误信息和迷信加剧担忧对一些家长而言，对埃博拉的担忧掩盖了疫苗接种的好处。
UNICEF says that across the province, health facilities administered 23,000 fewer routine vaccine doses in May and June than in April. MISINFORMATION, SUPERSTITION ADDING TO CONCERNS For some parents, concerns about Ebola overshadowed the benefits of vaccination.
“我们不敢把孩子带到医疗机构，怕被转介到埃博拉治疗中心。因为一旦被送过去，就可能死亡，”贝尼城三个孩子的母亲穆西卡·富拉哈说。她最终在看到接种疫苗的孩子仍然健康后，为最小的孩子接种了疫苗。
"We didn't want to bring our children to health facilities for fear of being referred to an Ebola treatment center. Because once you end up there, you can die," said Masika Furaha, a mother of three in Butembo. She did in the end have her youngest child vaccinated after seeing that children who received the shots remained healthy.
布特姆博的儿科医生穆佩恩齐·姆布雷尔表示，错误信息正在加剧父母的恐惧，有时会导致悲剧性后果。他描述了一起事件：当他因需要做X光检查而将男孩转介到主医院时，孩子的母亲突然哭泣起来，因为她认为医护人员会把孩子带走并用埃博拉病毒杀死他。
Dr. Mupenzi Mumbere, a paediatrician in Butembo, said misinformation is contributing to the fears among parents with sometimes tragic consequences. He described an episode in which a mother burst into tears when he referred her son to the main hospital for an X-ray because she believed staff would take him and kill him with Ebola.
他说，许多父母最初会尝试自行用药或寻求传统治疗师的帮助，最终才转向医院，而这往往会带来毁灭性的后果。
Many parents first try self-medication or seek help from traditional healers before eventually turning to hospitals, he said, often with devastating consequences.
“那时我才意识到误解有多严重，”姆布雷尔说。“在最严重的情况下，孩子们到达医院时状况如此糟糕，除了看着他们死去，几乎已经无能为力。”路透社
"That's when I realised how great the misunderstanding was," said Mumbere. "In the worst cases, children arrive in such poor condition that there is little left to do but watch them die." REUTERS