I Sierra Leone – et af verdens tre fattigste lande – har ebola fat i nationens strube og antallet af sygdomsramte stiger og stiger – det har også noget med kultur at gøre, folk skjuler deres syge og vasker de døde og begge dele baner vejen for “Dødens fortrop”.
FREETOWN, 8 December 2014 (IRIN):- In the week ending 30 November, Sierra Leone reported 537 confirmed Ebola cases, 152 more than the previous week and over four times the combined number of cases in Guinea and Liberia during the same period, according to World Health Organization’s (WHO) latestupdates.
For more than a month, the outbreak has been slowing in LIBERIA, which reported 43 cases from 24-28 November.
In GUINEA, where the virus was first reported in March, there has been a slight increase in cases since October. Seventy-seven cases were reported in the last week of November, says WHO.
Health authorities in SIERRA LEONE say the continued denial of the existence of Ebola and unsafe burials are driving up infections.
Seventy percent of infections are due to unsafe burials of Ebola victims, Brima Kargbo, chief medical officer at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, said on 3 December.
“The issue of denial is still widespread in our communities despite the fact that there is increased awareness and sensitization. People continue to hide the sick; people continue to wash bodies,” Kargbo said.
“What we have done is continue to engage the community leaders – for them to fully understand the risk factors of Ebola and for them to see the need to be involved in the fight against Ebola by reporting early when their loved ones are sick; at the same time for people not to bury without the support of the medical teams”, noted he.
Man kan læse og høre dansk ebola-læges beretning på http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Udland/2014/12/03/134953.htm
Ifølge WHOs opdatering frem til 4. december er over 17.000 smittet med ebola og 6.070 døde – næsten alle i Vestafrika.
“A difficult human problem”
In September, the Sierra Leonean government ordered a three-day nationwide lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of Ebola. It said the curfew (udgangsforbud) was successful. However, of the three West African countries battling Ebola, Sierra Leone currently has the highest transmission rates.
While infections have largely been brought down in the country’s eastern region where Ebola first emerged earlier this year, the virus is spreading aggressively in the Western Area region that includes the capital Freetown. Of the 93 confirmed cases reported on 3 December, 75 were from Western Area.
Lack of space in Ebola isolation centres in Western Area, infections during transportation and in isolation centres, as well as population movements, are some of the other factors behind the intensive spread of the virus.
“It is really hard to change what we do, as cultures, at the moment of death. Imagine a mother being told not to cuddle (kramme) her dead child? Who of us could?”, Winnie Romeril, WHO spokesperson in Sierra Leone, told IRIN, adding:
“Behaviour change sounds very sterile, but when you break it down and think about what that means, it becomes a very difficult human problem”.
Slow response
Læs videre på
http://www.irinnews.org/report/100926/sierra-leone-s-worrying-ebola-trend
