Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Ebola: nobody knows what to do
September 29 2014 at 03:45pm
By Marc Bastian
Monrovia - Jean-Pierre Veyrenche, in charge of building Ebola treatment centres in Monrovia for the World Health Organization, says fear is keeping international aid experts from joining the battle against the west African outbreak.
...
Q: How would you describe the state of the Ebola crisis in Monrovia?
A: The situation is out of control since the epidemic continues to grow... Here we have a country emerging completely broken from a civil war. There are only a few dozen Liberian doctors left. The need is glaring especially for healthcare personnel. And the need isn't being met with the arrival of foreign aid workers, who don't know how to manage such a huge epidemic in an urban environment.
Q: But can humanitarian organisations learn to manage this crisis?
A: Learning - that's what we're all doing. Because no one knows what to do. What's even worse, what's missing is hard data like the true number of (Ebola) cases. The figures being released are just for the cases that have been officially counted. I believe many people are just burying their dead at home, in their gardens.
...
Q: You are in charge of the construction of Ebola clinics. Explain exactly what this entails.
A: My job is to set up 500 beds. I think I'll be done in a month. There are a lot of technical issues to consider - how a plot of land is laid out, how big and how accessible it is.
You need 5 000 square metres (5 400 square feet) for a 100-bed clinic - not easy to find in a big city like Monrovia, with marshy terrain. And the heavy rains are an enormous obstacle, as is the high water table which makes it impossible to dig latrines and is forcing us to build septic tanks out of concrete.
...
http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/ebola-nobody-knows-what-to-do-1.1757508
September 29 2014 at 03:45pm
By Marc Bastian
Monrovia - Jean-Pierre Veyrenche, in charge of building Ebola treatment centres in Monrovia for the World Health Organization, says fear is keeping international aid experts from joining the battle against the west African outbreak.
...
Q: How would you describe the state of the Ebola crisis in Monrovia?
A: The situation is out of control since the epidemic continues to grow... Here we have a country emerging completely broken from a civil war. There are only a few dozen Liberian doctors left. The need is glaring especially for healthcare personnel. And the need isn't being met with the arrival of foreign aid workers, who don't know how to manage such a huge epidemic in an urban environment.
Q: But can humanitarian organisations learn to manage this crisis?
A: Learning - that's what we're all doing. Because no one knows what to do. What's even worse, what's missing is hard data like the true number of (Ebola) cases. The figures being released are just for the cases that have been officially counted. I believe many people are just burying their dead at home, in their gardens.
...
Q: You are in charge of the construction of Ebola clinics. Explain exactly what this entails.
A: My job is to set up 500 beds. I think I'll be done in a month. There are a lot of technical issues to consider - how a plot of land is laid out, how big and how accessible it is.
You need 5 000 square metres (5 400 square feet) for a 100-bed clinic - not easy to find in a big city like Monrovia, with marshy terrain. And the heavy rains are an enormous obstacle, as is the high water table which makes it impossible to dig latrines and is forcing us to build septic tanks out of concrete.
...
http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/ebola-nobody-knows-what-to-do-1.1757508
