Context
The Ebola epidemic is causing severe problems. The rate of infections and deaths in the affected countries is increasing. Hospitals are closing due to inadequate security measures and fear among staff. The dearth of medical facilities is allowing the continued spread of the pandemic. Farmers are abandoning their fields out of fear of becoming infected with the virus, leading to a food shortage which is in turn pushing up prices.
Objective
Saint Joseph’s Catholic Hospital in Monrovia (Liberia), closed in 2014 after many of its clinicians became infected with the Ebola virus, is reopened. Guinea’s food security is improved. The health systems of the Ebola-hit countries are stabilised, and these nations are able to effectively stem the epidemic and prevent its further spread.
Approach
In Liberia, the project is supporting the reopening of Saint Joseph’s Catholic Hospital in Monrovia, helping to stock it with key medicines and assisting with the training and recruitment of medical staff. The hospital is being equipped to offer basic medical services and to begin operating its paediatric and maternity clinics. Quarantine measures are also being taken, as part of which Ebola patients are provided with food and medical treatment.
Preventive training designed to protect non-infected individuals is being delivered in Guinea. With support from the international Energising Development programme, hospitals and health centres in the countries concerned are being equipped with photovoltaic systems to safeguard general energy supplies and ensure that medication remains viable. The fund is assisting Deutsche Welthungerhilfe with distributing food parcels to households affected by quarantine measures.
Results
A paediatric clinic and a maternity clinic were opened at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Hospital in Monrovia at the end of 2014. An isolation ward was also set up at the hospital for suspected cases of Ebola. With the help of several thousand specially trained volunteers, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe identified 50 Ebola survivors.