Start with a number: 2,000. That is how many people have died from Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the first case of this epidemic was confirmed in May. It is a figure that has now surpassed every previous outbreak in the country's recorded history, making this the deadliest Ebola crisis the DRC has ever faced. For a disease first identified near the Ebola River in 1976, that is a grim and significant milestone.

So why is it so hard to stop? Health teams working in the eastern provinces face challenges that go far beyond the biology of the virus itself. Armed conflict in the region has made it dangerous — sometimes impossible — for medical workers to reach patients. Communities, which have experienced years of distrust toward outside institutions, are sometimes reluctant to accept treatment or report cases.

When people are afraid, and when governments or international agencies have let them down before, suspicion can spread almost as fast as a virus. This is a pattern that health experts have also observed during outbreaks in West Africa and parts of South Asia, where social trust has proven to be as critical as any vaccine. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has been working to respond. Yap Boum II, a prominent figure at CDC Africa, has spoken about the urgent need to rebuild community confidence alongside the medical response — emphasising that treatment centres and contact tracing alone are not enough without local cooperation.