In pictures: Surviving Congo

Years of war and neglect have left the country in ruins and reaching a doctor or a hospital can sometimes take days.

Even conducting the survey was a major logistical challenge - these researchers took more than an hour to move less than 200m.

It is situations like these that makes one understand that seriously ill patients often die en route before reaching proper health care.

Patients are typically carried on homemade stretchers on small jungle paths to see a doctor.