The World Health Organization desperately needs to boost the ranks of health workers responding to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to prevent or reduce incidents of them becoming infected, as has happened already with several doctors and at least one aid worker.
Aid groups are struggling to deal with the outbreak, which started in Guinea-Conakry and has now spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Close to 700 confirmed and suspected deaths have been reported since February, including respected doctors Sheik Humarr Khan of Sierra Leone and Samuel Brisbane, who used to be former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s physician. Today, a U.S. doctor with Christian charity Samaritan Purse and a Serving In Mission aid worker are fighting for their lives after contracting the virus in Liberia.
"We really believe that the avoidance of transmission among health workers can be done by improving the quality of care and facilities that are delivering this care. Secondly, we need to increase the number of staff and let them work in shifts. In some affected countries, there are health workers working 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Francis Kasolo, coordinator of the regional coordination center for Ebola recently established by WHO in Conakry, told Devex in a phone conversation.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
