An Ebola Strategy Brings Good News To One Liberian Town

[Gert van der Hoek]

See also: WHO: Working with communities is the key to stopping Ebola

An Ebola Strategy Brings Good News To One Liberian Town

by JON HAMILTON

October 28, 2014

In one corner of Liberia, a community has come together to change the course of the deadly epidemic. New cases have been brought to a standstill. This success shows that it's going to take more than extra beds at a ward to stop Ebola.

When Doctors Without Borders arrived in the northern district of Foya in early August, Ebola was out of control. Foya was the first area in Liberia to report cases, and the community has been hit hard.

"At the peak, there were 125 patients in the center," says Katy Athersuch, the local communications officer for Doctors Without Borders. "It was a very, very busy time and very stressful."

Since then, a lot has changed in this district, which borders Guinea and Sierra Leone. Those changes are the most obvious inside the Ebola care center run by Doctors Without Borders in Foya.

In one of the tents inside the low-risk area, a whiteboard lists every Ebola patient in the center. On this day, there are just three names.

"It's a very changed situation," Athersuch says. "For the last six weeks now, we've had an average of around ten patients. So things are very obviously better, but they're not solved."

There have been no new cases in Foya for nearly a month — although patients are still arriving from other areas, including the district of Voinjama only 40 miles up the road.

Health workers say there are two main reasons the epidemic here has been brought under control. One is this care center, which means sick people aren't at home infecting other people. The other is a massive campaign to connect with the community and to distribute information. This work has been conducted by both local health leaders and Doctor Without Borders' staff.

More: NPR

 

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Re: An Ebola Strategy Brings Good News To One Liberian Town

Key actions listed in this report appear to be as follows:-

Health workers say there are two main reasons the epidemic here has been brought under control. One is this care center, which means sick people aren't at home infecting other people. The other is a massive campaign to connect with the community and to distribute information. This work has been conducted by both local health leaders and Doctor Without Borders' staff.

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So Doctors Without Borders and the local Ebola team put in a new system. Every time an ambulance went to collect a patient or body, they sent a health promoter, like Seyoe and Jayah, to stand outside the house and explain to neighbors what was happening.

They also began to allow families to visit patients at the center ? from a safe distance.


One of the most important changes was allowing family members to see the body of someone who died of Ebola, says James Timothy Nah, a mental health counselor at the Ebola center.

"It is their right to say, 'I want to see the body before it's been buried,' " Nah says. "It is also their right to say, 'I want to see where the body is buried.' "

The center even has a viewing area where visitors can see the faces of health care workers before they put on masks, goggles, and other protective gear.

And just a few weeks ago, the staff at the center installed a cell phone booth where patients can make calls to their friends and relatives.