Ebola - a huge disaster in West Africa slowly growing up? An interview with the head of ECHO in the region. A disaster in slow motion: Interview with ECHO Head of West Africa office about Ebola 29/08/2014 Ever since the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in March this year, the European Commissions Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) has been greatly involved. Cyprien Fabre, head of ECHOs West Africa office reflects in this interview on issues like life in a quarantined region, the challenges facing humanitarian organisations, and why hes not afraid for his life. Interviewed by Anouk Delafortrie, ECHO Regional Information Officer for West Africa What were your first impressions? We went to Kailahun and Kenema, the Ebola epicentre in the east of Sierra Leone. The region was quarantined after our visit. The outbreak has a profound impact on the population, on the economy, on all aspects of society. In Freetown you can’t escape the mass media campaigns and radio shows discussing Ebola. You can’t enter a shop without washing your hands, no one shakes hands, everyone is afraid. And as one after the other airline stops disserving Freetown, you have a sense of being in a fortress. How is the response coming along? Even if many things are being done, it’s still an uphill battle. The district of Kailahun is made up of 14 chiefdoms spread out over a forested area. Volunteers are doing community outreach, but there aren’t enough cars, there are few roads and it’s the rainy season. They often have to choose between collecting a patient and burying a deceased. In the beginning messages incited fear – “if you have Ebola, you’ll die” – but they’ve now been finetuned to: “if you go for treatment early, you might be among the 45% of people who survive”. It’s not an easy job for our partners? When we went to collect a child’s body, the Red Cross volunteers first had to negotiate with the village chief. These volunteers are a great asset; they understand the fear, they know how to talk to people. But even their family doesn’t always understand why they’re doing it, collecting and burying dead bodies. The expatriate staff are there for short, but very intense periods of time. I admire their sense of duty. How does the population react? In Kenema the hospital was partly burnt down because people didn’t want an Ebola centre within the hospital premises. IFRC is now building a new treatment centre, out of town, so that people can return to the hospital. It’s understandable to be afraid if 10 meters away Ebola patients are being cared for without a strict respect for safety protocols. We also heard about entire villages being ostracised by the surrounding villages, preventing people from going the market. They then find themselves resorting to bush meat which is exactly what we’re trying to avoid. Is the worldwide Ebola psychosis justified? Ebola is frightening and we must avoid its expansion, especially to big cities. But there will be more collateral victims among people who suffer from malaria and other diseases, especially during this rainy season, because they don’t have access to healthcare. The health system was already weak, but is now falling apart. And many people shy away from going to health centres for fear of being held or catching the virus there. How are Ebola survivors coping? Recovering from Ebola is not the end of the ordeal, it’s the beginning of more trouble. I met a woman whose entire family had died, except for a baby she now had to care for. They are often the only survivors and their life is in pieces. Behind the statistics are human lives and people who need pshychosocial help, also after recovery. The Ministry of Health gives them a certificate, the look of a big diploma. They carry it around to prove they’re no longer contagious. Were you worried about your own safety? No, because security depends on your own respect for safety protocols: not touching anyone, washing your hands and being strict about it. Unlike a conflict, your security depends on you, not on someone else’s gun. How will the epidemic be brought under control? After the decrease in number of cases in Guinea, the reaction was too relaxed. There was a traditional outbreak approach. But we should address Ebola as a natural disaster, like a typhoon but in slow motion. The seriousness is now recognised, but concrete actions on the ground have to follow, by people who are experienced in large-scale disasters. You can’t afford to lack re-agents in your lab or have only one car at your disposal. It’s moving, but still too slowly. What’s your assessment of the capacity out there? Human resources are a major constraint. Most of the staff with Ebola experience are already involved. The Internatioanl Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) is getting into case management in Kenema and are being trained by Medicines sans frontiers (MSF). I wish that other NGOs with a medical expertise would come forward. It’s not easy and it will be training by doing. But since there’s no cure, technically the care is quite simple. What does it mean to put a region under quarantine? At first there were checkpoints where people had their temperature taken. Then the area got completely sealed off. People cannot travel in and out. The state of emergency comes with additional powers to security forces and army. This should be handled carefully. The Ebola epicenter is an opposition stronghold. If you quarantine an entire part of your population it has to come with some alleviating measures, especially if it lasts long. ec.europa.eu/echo/en/field-blogs/stories/disaster-slow-motion-interview-echo-head-west-africa-office-about-ebola
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 01:25:07 +0000
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