Reviewing impact: two years after the Ebola outbreak

The end of this month marks the second anniversary of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. To honour all we have experienced in the past two years, we have pulled together a compilation of remarkable blogs from the Ebola outbreak:

Red Cross teams at the forefront of the Ebola response in GuineaRed Cross teams at the forefront of the Ebola response in Guinea

Mamadou Saidon Bah wakes up each morning not knowing if he will spend his day grading student assignments and preparing lectures for his work as a teacher, or if he will instead lead a group of young volunteers to collect the body of yet another victim of the growing Ebola epidemic.  

 


Woman in Ebola protective suit holds and feeds a one-month-old baby with Ebola as she sits beside the mother.
Tears fog up my protective goggles, Canadian nurse writes from Ebola treatment centre

Patrice Gordon, a British Columbia nurse practitioner and Red Cross delegate, worked at the Red Cross Ebola treatment centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone. While deployed, Patrice wrote about her experiences fighting Ebola.

Read more about Patrice’s experiences in Helping people to hope.



Woman poses for photograph with a Red Cross worker while she holds her certificate that shows she is Ebola-free.
Stories of surviving Ebola

Despite contracting Ebola, many patients in West Africa are recovering from the virus and returning to their lives with joy and a bit of apprehension and fear due to stigmatization surrounding the virus disease.

 

Katherine Mueller standing in the low risk area inside the Ebola treatment centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Behind her is the tent where health care workers take off their personal protective equipment.
Dancing to Michael Jackson amidst Ebola

Katherine Mueller is a Canadian aid worker with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Africa and was deployed to Sierra Leone to support the Red Cross response to the Ebola virus disease outbreak. Katherine discusses her experiences in a place of great need and hope.


Saa Sabas and a Red Cross worker standing in front of a chalk board where they are educating others about how to prevent the spread of Ebola.From Ebola survivor to Red Cross volunteer

When the Ebola virus first hit Guinea two months ago, many people didn’t realize it was the deadly haemorrhagic fever. With symptoms such as fever, aches, muscle weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea, it was similar to many other viruses, plus Ebola had never been detected in Guinea so people and medical staff were not familiar with the disease.

Saa Sabas volunteered to take care of his sick parent who was hospitalized at the local health centre.
Because of his close contact with an infected person, and because he was not wearing personal protection equipment like gloves, masks and goggles, Saa Sabas eventually became infected with the Ebola virus. He was transferred quickly to the Ebola treatment centre set up in Guéckédou. The early symptomatic treatment he received, combined with his fighting spirit to stay alive, paid off.


Read more blogs on the Ebola outbreak from Red Cross Talks.
 

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