Dr Aimé Mbonda Noula of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said some families had fled their homes when a relative died from Ebola, abandoning the body rather than notifying authorities because they feared being taken into quarantine.
“Most of the people in [these] communities think that these treatment centres are places where, when you go, you die,” he said. “So, you usually run away from these places and run away from the health workers”.
Others resisted changes to funeral practices.
“They don’t believe that safe, dignified burials could really help,” says Dr Babou Rukengeza from the charity Save The Children. “They say: ‘this is my family member, I need to honour him… this is the last time that I can touch him’.”
Last month, two Ebola response workers were attacked in North Kivu province by people who reportedly blamed them for deaths in their community.
Video verified by BBC Verify shows a female health worker trying to flee from a group of men who strike her with wooden planks. In another clip, a man appearing to wear medical scrubs crawls along a road while people throw stones at him.