2 September 2014: People in Ebola-blighted Liberia have told Plan that the current situation is ‘worse than a war zone’ as the deadly disease continues to claim lives.
The country, which suffered a total of eleven years of civil war between 1989 and 2003, has been brought to its knees by the deadly virus, which has now reached nine counties and killed at least 694 people.
According to Mamadee Kamara, a social worker in Lofa County based in Voinjama, community members are fast losing hope, believing that they will soon be dead from the deadly virus.
“It’s worse than war,” said Kamara. “Everything has come to a halt. There’s no education, as the schools and colleges are closed. Businesses are not moving, the city is empty and people are now running away. People are even questioning why they should work, because soon they’ll be dead.”
Health system under pressure
Liberia’s limited health facilities mean there are scant treatment centres for the increasing number of Ebola patients, and there are fears that the health system is now collapsing under the pressure of so many patients.
Some 152 health care workers have been infected and 79 have died. When the outbreak began, Liberia had only one doctor to treat nearly 100,000 people in a total population of 4.4 million people.
The country recently imposed emergency measures, such as community quarantines and a system of medical roadblocks to prevent the virus reaching cities.
But the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that thousands more cases could occur in Liberia, and Liberia’s Defence Minister Brownie Samukai has said the virus is “spreading like wildfire”.
“I’m worried,” said Kamara, who spoke from Lofa. “If you say there’s a sickness without a cure, and when you get it, you will die, it makes everyone hopeless.”
Quarantine restrictions
As quarantine restrictions spring up across the country, many people fear that being cut off from the rest of the country will leave them starving and stigmatised.
Residents of Bomi, a county 80km from Monrovia that has already been quarantined, say their daily lives have been radically affected by the lack of food and water, with the cost of living rising by the day and scant medical supplies reaching them.
“We are praying hard to survive. Only God can save us, as the present poor health care here will cause many people to die, and this is very worrisome,” said a town chief.
“We are in a state of great fear with news of more deaths and starvation from every quarter of Liberia,” said another resident. “The death toll must stop or else we will all perish.”
Klubo Jangar, another social worker in Lofa County, said isolating the region would not be a good decision.
“If Lofa is cut off, leaving for Monrovia will be difficult, and we have our families there,” she said. “Products and goods will not be able to come in, and NGOs won’t be able to come to help us. It will harm us, and it will mean we’ll be stigmatised.”
Klubo said her work is now difficult because of the virus.
“I am seeing my good friends and family members dying, and I have to be around them, so I can’t tell if I am infected or not. I am so afraid. I used to go and do counselling for people whose families are dying, but how can I go?
“People whose hands I used to shake, or people I used to hug – I do this no more. I talk to them from a distance.” Providing public health information Children washing hands, Sierra Leone
Public health information advises how to contain the virus, including making use of local handwashing facilities.
Plan International is providing public health information and awareness messages via radio, posters as well as distributing handwashing and sanitation kits to affected communities. In addition to Liberia, the organisation is responding to the health crisis in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
It has also teamed up with International Medical Corps, a leader in global health and emergency response, to respond to the deadly virus across West Africa.
Working jointly, Plan and International Medical Corps will address immediate short-term needs and long-term requirements.
The response plan covers prevention, case management, psychological first aid, child protection and other life saving measures.
Plan Liberia Country Director Koala Oumarou said: “With weak health systems and a fast spreading virus, this outbreak is one step ahead of the under-resourced response to combat it.”
“To combat the outbreak, actions are needed at different levels. Preventive work through public health promotion, care and treatment units, psychological care, information dissemination and rebuilding public health systems should be top of the list”.
View the infographic detailing Plan's response to the Ebola crisis.
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For media enquiries, please contact:
Jane Labous, Press Officer,
Africa Jane.Labous@plan-international.org
+44 (0)1483 733 330 /+44 (0)7540 048 494