FREETOWN, (Reuters) – In a stifling room in a sports stadium in Freetown, a dozen young people watch intently as three British soldiers show them how to put on several layers of protective clothing needed to enter an Ebola treatment centre “red zone”.
They are training to be hygienists to help treat victims of the hemorrhagic fever that has gripped Sierra Leone, as well as neighbouring Liberia and Guinea. The outbreak has killed some 5,000 people and threatens to infect tens of thousands more in the coming weeks.
It is a lesson that could save their lives. Ebola is spread through contact with bodily fluids of infected people, who suffer from diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding in the final stages of the deadly disease, making treating them a dangerous job.
Some 250 healthcare workers have already died in the three worst-hit countries.
“Ebola is a deadly disease. It’s killing many amounts of people in our country and by the grace of God I want to stop the Ebola virus,” said Elizabeth Thomas, 22, a public health student.
Despite pledges of hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign governments, donors and U.N. agencies, the fight against the worst Ebola outbreak on record is being hampered by the chronic lack of trained physicians on the ground.
With its healthcare system ruined by a brutal 1991-2002 civil war, Sierra Leone had only around 120 doctors for its 6 million people before Ebola struck.
The World Health Organization estimates that 1,000 foreign medical workers and 20,000 locals are needed to man the 50 Ebola treatment units due to be rolled out across the region. Only a fraction of these have so far come forward, amid fear of the disease.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, visiting the three West African countries to see how the world can better respond to the epidemic, paid tribute to the bravery of the local volunteers.
“You’re warriors in this fight,” Power told them. “You’re the reason we’re going to beat this thing.”
At the WHO centre, supported by Britain, some 750 people have been trained to work in treatment units. By the end of this month, the training centre is expected to be graduating 240 educated workers a week, British officials say.
