Global Health (Page 8)

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 from the local Red Cross branch on a mission to collect the body of yet another victim of the growing Ebola epidemic.

This week, the Red Cross (IFRC) opened its first Ebola treatment centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone, a district hard-hit by the outbreak. The centre can house up to 60 patients when at full capacity. The centre has so far admitted 5 patients, including an 11-year-old girl. 

How many times did you touch someone today: a family member, a friend, a colleague, the person beside you on the bus? How many times did you rub your eyes, touch your lips, scratch your nose? A world without touch is strange thing, and a humanitarian mission where you’re not allowed to touch other people is both physically and mentally challenging.

Sometimes getting there is half the battle. In reality the journey is more like one per cent of the battle, but when flights stand between you and your mission, it can feel like the biggest battle of all. I'm five flights into a seven-leg journey to Conakry, the capital of Ebola-affected Guinea, with every flight bringing me closer to supporting the regional Red Cross team providing services to the West African countries affected by the outbreak.

Canadian Red Crosser Chiran Livera who was recently in South Sudan to aid in the cholera outbreak in South Sudan shares the story of a small two-year-old boy who got sick and started showing all the common signs of cholera – dehydration, vomiting and muscle cramps. He was brought to the to the Red Cross community health tent that has been specifically set-up to detect and assist with early intervention of cholera.

These photos were taken in Sierra Leone and Guinea during a recent visit by Elhadj As Sy, the Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) as Red Cross ramps up efforts in response to the Ebola outbreak.

From the moment the Ebola outbreak was first discovered earlier this year in West Africa, technology has been playing an important role in detecting its spread, initially in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

When the Ebola virus first hit Guinea two months ago, many people didn’t realize it was the deadly haemorrhagic fever. Saa Sabas, from Guinea, was caring for his sick parent when he contracted the virus, but managed to beat it. Now, along with the Red Cross Society of Guinea, Saa Sabas works to raise awareness of how to prevent the spread of the disease, to allay some of the fear and rumours, as well as to combat the ignorance about this dangerous disease.