One man works to slow the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, and he's doing it unpaid

After months on the job in eastern Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak, overworked frontline workers were questioning whether they would continue as they were yet to receive a salary. At an Ebola treatment hospital in the eastern Ituri province, the epicenter of Congo’s ongoing outbreak, Bondele disinfects contaminated areas, checks visitors’ temperatures and enforces handwashing protocols — work that puts him at risk of getting infected. But like hundreds of other front-line health workers, including burial teams and drivers, Bondele says he has been working without pay since the outbreak was declared in mid-May in one of Congo’s most remote and conflict-hit regions . Poor welfare for front-line workers has been a key source of concern in the outbreak. The payment issues and attacks on health teams and facilities have forced some health workers to walk off the job, disrupting critical care in the outbreak that authorities say continues to spread at an alarming rate and faster than efforts to track it.

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