Congo Sleep

Octavie Alingite and her husband Marthine Putu are from Bandudu, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s province with the highest levels of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), or sleeping sickness. At 66 years of age Octavie is suffering from her second bought, the first was 10 years ago. This is her first day of intravenous treatment. In the last 10 years, over 70% of reported cases of sleeping sickness have occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to the World Health Organisation, it is the only country that currently reports more than 1000 new cases annually and accounts for 85% of the cases reported in 2014. Alingite and her husband Putu Marthin come from Bandundu in southern DRC, an area which represents more than 60 percent of the sleeping sickness burden in the DRC, an equivalent to 3.3 million people. The disease is mostly transmitted through the bite of an infected tsetse fly. Alingite is in the second stage of the disease where the parasites cross the blood-brain barrier and begin to infect the central nervous system. The signs and symptoms become obvious: changes of behaviour, confusion, sensory disturbances and poor coordination, and disturbance of the sleep cycle which gives the disease its name. Treatment is available at the Roi Boduin Hospital in the Chango district of Kinshasa, DRC’s capital. Without treatment, the disease is considered fatal although cases of healthy carriers have been reported. Alingite and Putu Marthin have been married since 1979, he stays with her constantly, keeping her dress in place, helping her eat, protecting her. The disease debilitates those suffering it to a great extent over time, themselves and family and friend care-givers are unable to take on work making the disease a drain on the economy. New diagnostics, treatment, and surveillance tools are however putting elimination within reach. These series was taken on assignment for PATH who are partnering to eliminate sleeping sickness by 2020 in the region of Bandundu through a campaign financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation scheduled to launch in early 2017.