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 Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which are all experiencing a
resurgence of the deadly hemorrhagic fever, have budgeted a little
more than $2 billion between them to restore their health systems.
But, according to WHO, to reach that goal they will still need $696
million in aid from donor nations.
The Ebola epidemic, which has claimed more than 11,200 lives so far,
took an exceptional toll on health workers who were up to 30 times
more likely to contract the disease than the general public because
of the number of patients they treated, WHO found.
During one 15-month period some 800 health workers contracted Ebola
across the three countries and more than half were nurses and nurse
aides.
In rural clinics, there may only be one nurse for hundreds of
patients, said Yolanda Ogbolu, deputy director of Global Health at
the University of Maryland School of Nursing.
"Losing a nurse in a place like Liberia is very significant," said
Ogbolu, a neonatal specialist who has trained nurses in Liberia and
Nigeria. "They are working in the absence of a physician and
frequently have to work alone."
"It means there is no one to take care of a mother about to deliver
a baby or someone who walks in with malaria," she said.
Malaria, which mimics some of the same symptoms of Ebola, is the
main cause of morbidity and mortality in Liberia, according to the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Sister Barbara Brillant, president of Mother Patern College of
Health Sciences in Liberia's capital Monrovia, said that in the
epidemic's early days people feared going to hospitals and clinics
because they didn't trust the health system.
"Why? Health workers were dying and they thought these are the
people who are giving it to us, not trying to save us," she told the
National Catholic Reporter.
Health workers either did not have or did not know how to use the
proper personal protective equipment.
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"There are various levels of protection health care providers must
have when they are dealing with potentially fatal diseases. Not just
Ebola, but small pox or anthrax or any Category A biological agent,"
said Tener Goodwin Veenema, an associate professor at John Hopkins
School of Nursing and an expert in disaster nursing and public
health emergency preparedness.
"And the health care providers must be properly trained in how to
'don and doff' personal protective equipment," she said.
John Hopkins Armstrong Institute worked with CDC to come up with
video tutorials on how to safely put on and take off the special
gowns, masks, shields, gloves and booties without infecting others.
"These countries didn't have a solid public health care system to
even help them begin to respond," Veenema said. "What they need is
to build a health care workforce and that is a global challenge
right now."
The World Bank Group said it has mobilized $1.62 billion in
financing for Ebola response and recovery efforts to support the
countries hardest hit by Ebola.
The United States, as of last week, had pledged $1.2 billion to the
three West African nations.
Sr. Barbara, in an email to Thomson Reuters Foundation, said she
would like to see funding spent on better salaries and better
training for health workers.
(Reporting By Leslie Gevirtz, Editing by Maria Caspani; Please
credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson
Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, corruption
and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
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