West Africa - Ebola claims its victims, resulting in thousands of orphaned children

[Gert van der Hoek]

Ebola orphans vulnerable as Liberia's single mothers become victims of epidemic

Source: Plan International - Wed, 17 Sep 2014

The aftermath of war is haunting Liberia as the Ebola epidemic puts pressure on the country?s broken families

Teenager Lydia, 16, and her young siblings Blessing, 11, Pauline, nine, and Paul, five, can only watch, sobbing, as the body of their mother is taken away in a plastic sheet by masked men resembling crop-sprayers, the standard way to dispose of Ebola victims.

Forty-five year old Juana did not die peacefully. She bled and vomited her way to death with no medical assistance, cared for by her children in an isolated corrugated-iron hut in the small town of Voijama, northern Liberia.

But the fact that Juana?s four children are now orphans cannot solely be blamed on the deadly Ebola virus that, in the words of Liberia?s Defence Minister Brownie Samukai, is ?devouring everything in its path?.

With no father around to step into the breach, the children are on their own.

Liberia?s social problem of broken, single-parent families has existed since the end of the civil war in 2003 ? and as the new virus claims its victims, this is now resulting in hundreds of orphaned children.

More: Trust org

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Ebola claims its victims, resulting in hundreds of orphaned children

Re: Ebola claims its victims, resulting in hundreds of orphaned children

If you are really poor, you can't afford to take care of an orphan?

Thousands Of West African Children Now Orphans

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Family members, friends and neighbours refuse to take care of the brothers due to the stigma attached to the deadly virus. Fear of being infected is stronger than any social bond after the epidemic killed more than 2,400 people in West Africa.

Before Joshua and Moses were found in their home by a health worker, they had been abandoned for a whole week. “All other residents in the house left, ran away” after the boys’ parents died, the health workers says.

Although there are no statistics available yet, thousands of West African children have been orphaned by Ebola since the first case was detected in Guinea in December, estimates United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef.

In addition to the trauma of losing a parent, they are ostracized because they are seen as a source of infection, bad luck and trouble, according to the organization.

Many orphans have to fend for survival on the streets, without shelter, health care and nutrition. In Liberia, every fifth orphan is below the age of 2 and particularly vulnerable to the consequences of neglect, warns Unicef Liberia representative Sheldon Yett.

“Over the past decade, Liberia has moved from a country mired in devastating conflict to a country celebrating the highest rate of decline in child mortality in Africa,” says Yett. “Now Ebola is threatening to wipe out all those hard-earned gains.”

The epidemic has led to “a gross violation of children’s rights,” according to Henry Bunch Garneo, chair of advocacy group National Children and Youth Advisory Board in the capital, Monrovia.

In one instance, a child died of starvation because nobody wanted to go near it after her parents died of Ebola, Garneo tells local newspaper Liberian Observer. Every day, there were new cases of child neglect, he says.

After Liberia’s information minister Lewis Brown appealed to citizens help “rather than abandon such children,” Lofa Country senator Sumo Kupee rose to the challenge and adopted an Ebola orphan. But examples such as these are few and far between.

In neighbouring Sierra Leone, too, “orphaned children are … being ostracized from their communities at the most vulnerable time in their lives,” says Rob MacGillivray, regional humanitarian director of non-profit organsation Save the Children.

Local child welfare organization Pikin-to-Pikin Movement takes care of hundreds of Ebola orphans between the ages of 0 and 16 in half-way houses across the country.

More: Spy Ghana

 

[Vibrant62]

Re: West Africa - Ebola claims its victims, resulting in thousands of orphaned children

This is where Unicef and Save the Children should be getting active in these countries. They may not be able to fight the ebola virus, but surely this is their 'raison d'etre'?

They could set up homes and shelters for the chlidren of ebola fatalities to be released to, once their isolation period/ recovery has been completed. Surely?

 

[Nika]

Re: West Africa - Ebola claims its victims, resulting in thousands of orphaned children

Sounds like UNICEF has no surge capacity (I doubt any NGO have the NEEDED surge capacity for this disaster).
"Unicef Sierra Leone
Yesterday at 4:01pm ?
These children are a group of the 1000 plus whose lives have been turned upside down by Ebola. They have survived Ebola but have lost parents and are now in the care of a half-way house in Kailahun district in Sierra Leone. Their futures are uncertain and UNICEF needs support to help rebuild their lives.

?Ebola is killing people and undermining futures,? said Afshan Khan, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes. ?It is closing schools, destroying health systems and threatening the very fabric of communities. This is a crisis of enormous proportions.?

Today, UNICEF appealed for $200 million to respond to the Ebola outbreak that has claimed over 2,400 lives and ravaged communities across West Africa. 10.3 million children live in Ebola-affected areas."

https://m.facebook.com/unicefsierraleone?_rdr

 

[Nika]

Re: West Africa - Ebola claims its victims, resulting in thousands of orphaned children

Save The Children info regarding re ebola

http://www.savethechildren.org/site...rvive_the_Deadly_Ebola_Outbreak_in_Africa.htm

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: West Africa - Ebola claims its victims, resulting in thousands of orphaned children

"According to Dr Michael Kinzer, CDC epidemiologist, in an interview with the Figaro, very few children have been infected in this Ebola outbreak."

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=544590

This statement is also reflected in this WHO report from Guinea:

Graph #3:

Confirmed, probable and suspected cases as of 27/10/2014:
0-4 98
5-14 149
15-29 451
30-44 494
45+ 416

http://guineematin.com/wp-content/u..._EBOLA_SITREP-N-195-DU-27-OCTOBRE_2014-VF.pdf

According to Mundi, 42% of the population of Guinea is under the age of 15.

Guinea Demographics Profile 2014

0-14 years: 42% (male 2,437,142/female 2,387,105)
15-24 years: 19.5% (male 1,130,432/female 1,108,834)
25-54 years: 30.4% (male 1,748,867/female 1,739,881)
55-64 years: 4.4% (male 243,032/female 266,578)
65 years and over: 3.6% (male 182,084/female 230,428) (2014 est.)

http://www.indexmundi.com/guinea/demographics_profile.html

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: West Africa - Ebola claims its victims, resulting in thousands of orphaned children

Ebola?s orphans: Survivors care for children left behind by disease

By Jessica Mulvihill
Published November 04, 2014?
FoxNews.com
...
While reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest new infections are slowing in Liberia, the country hardest hit by the disease, the number of children orphaned by Ebola continues to rise along with the death toll? nearly 5,000 people as of Friday.

?Our orphanages are full right now, so we are not able to take in more children,? Kay Knapp, a U.S. liaison at Lifesong for Orphans Liberia, a Christian nonprofit that runs orphanages in several developing nations, told FoxNews.com in an email. ?The estimates from our directors are that there are 2,000+ children newly orphaned as a result of Ebola in Liberia alone.?
...
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/...ors-care-for-children-left-behind-by-disease/

 

[Pathfinder]

Ebola Orphans Challenge West African Culture

Carol Guensburg
December 26, 2014 10:50 AM
...
"Before you even get to find out where the child comes from, the mother dies. The child is left all alone. Suddenly, you have a little boy on your hands," Brooks recalled last week from his base in Dakar, Senegal. He was struck by the situation's gravity: Decisions made that day could affect the child for the rest of his life.

This particular child happened to be in Monrovia, Liberia, but the scene has played out repeatedly over the past year elsewhere in that country and in Guinea and Sierra Leone. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, estimates at least 10,000 youngsters have lost at least one parent or primary caregiver to the current Ebola outbreak that, as of the World Health Organization's last count, has killed at least 7,588.
...
http://www.voanews.com/content/ebola-orphans-challenge-west-african-culture/2573837.html