When Romelie Kawgho’s boyfriend returned from his Ebola checkup in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in January, he told her he was cured. The 25-year-old Ebola survivor had been discharged from a treatment centre three months earlier and insisted on having unprotected sex with her.

Although doctors urged the couple to use a condom for a year, Kawgho’s boyfriend assured her he was fine. Months later, after repeatedly having unprotected sex, 19-year-old Kawgho found herself in an Ebola isolation ward fighting for her life.

Now an Ebola survivor herself, she wishes she had been better informed.