How aid cuts are hampering the frontline response to the Ebola crisis

Healthcare workers participate in a simulation exercise in Uganda, practicing how to conduct a safe and dignified burial for a deceased Ebola patient. Leonard Musinguzi hide caption toggle caption Leonard Musinguzi A large Ebola outbreak in central Africa is spreading, and misinformation about the virus is making matters worse. Rumors on social media claim that Ebola is not real or that health care workers are out to profit for themselves . More than 1,000 suspected and confirmed cases have been recorded, with at least 223 deaths suspected of being caused by Ebola, according to the World Health Organization . Health workers say that's likely a major undercount. The epicenter of the outbreak is in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Uganda, which borders the DRC, has so far been spared the worst of the outbreak. On May 27, the country closed its official border crossings with Congo. "We still have a number of porous border points … whereby people continue to cross over," said Leonard Musinguzi. He's a community and surveillance officer for the International Rescue Committee in Uganda. Musinguzi's job is to track likely cases of Ebola, quarantine refugees, train healthcare workers and prepare his community to battle the disease. That's an uphill battle, especially because wrong information about Ebola can spread even faster than a virus. One of the ways Musinguzi tries to combat that misinformation is public health messaging. …