Fear, Suspicion Undermine West Africa's Battle Against Ebola -- Reuters
(Reuters) - When Mohamed Swarray contracted the deadly Ebola disease in June, he was confined to a tented isolation ward at Kenema in eastern Sierra Leone. But he didn't stay there long.
Suspicious of the doctors in their masks and body-length protective suits, he slipped out and fled to the capital Freetown 300 km (185 miles) away. There, he was nursed in a private home for a week before being traced by officials and hurriedly returned, weak and frightened, to the Kenema unit.
With West Africa facing the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever, with 400 dead so far, this kind of fear and mistrust is driving dozens of victims to evade treatment, frustrating foreign and local doctors trying to contain the epidemic.
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More News On West Africa's Ebola Crisis
WHO Warns West Africa Countries of Ebola Spread -- VOA
Liberia: Ebola Death Toll Rises -- AllAfrica/New Dawn
Liberia warns against hiding Ebola patients -- Al Jazeera
Liberian president warns against hiding Ebola patients -- BBC
West African Ebola outbreak is deadliest on record -- PBS
In pictures: Battling Ebola in West Africa -- BBC
West Africa can’t manage the Ebola outbreak -- Washington Post editorial
There is only one way to stop ebola.
ReplyDeleteGet rich.
A vibrant, healthy economy has the resources to fund a good health system. Healthy people are less likely to succumb or to be better educated on the threat of disease. A wealthy people can be quite obtuse about disease but with mass media, time to read and a fear of dying, they eventually come around.
You have to give people freedom, tamp down on cronyism and corruption, fight fraud and fight people forcing other into outright slavery or wage slavery.
The former donor countries can do very little and will do less over time as things get worse. Sierra Leone has to do everything right or suffer.