Entire villages disappeared: Ebola deaths in Sierra Leone underreported
Published time: November 01, 2014 23:38
Reuters / Susana Vera
Ebolas toll on Sierra Leone is much greater than previously thought, with
entire villages killed off by the virus. This means up to 20,000 people
could have succumbed to the disease by now, a senior coordinator for Doctors
Without Borders (MSF) believes.
According to Rony Zachariah, coordinator of operational research for MSF,
the Ebola impact on Sierra Leone is in fact under-reported, AFP quotes.
The situation is catastrophic. There are several villages and communities
that have been basically wiped out. In one of the villages I went to, there
were 40 inhabitants and 39 died, Zachariah told the agency. Whole
communities have disappeared but many of them are not in the statistics. The
situation on the ground is actually much worse.
The latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) put the total
number of dead at 4,951 out of 13,567 recorded cases.
But the real total could be up to 20,000 people dead, Zachariah argues. The
WHO says there is a correction factor of 2.5, so maybe it is 2.5 times
higher and maybe that is not far from the truth. It could be 10,000, 15,000
or 20,000.
Zachariah also highlighted the shortage of healthcare workers in the
country.
You have one nurse for 10,000 people and then you lose 10, 11, 12 nurses.
How is the health system going to work? he said.
Even at this point, the pace of dealing with Ebola is slow, he added. We
might get a vaccine and a treatment...but even now we need to go much faster
because the clock is ticking...We want action now.
Meanwhile, the latest cases of Ebola in Spain and the US have sparked fears
of an even bigger outbreak, prompting Canada to step up its border security
so as to limit the risk of infection spreading into the country.
The federal government announced on Friday it is suspending the processing
of visa applications for residents and nationals who have been in Guinea,
Liberia, and Sierra Leone in the last three months. The same goes for
permanent residence applications.
The Spanish government has expressed grave concern over the threat of
terrorists using Ebola as a biological weapon against the West.
Spains state secretary for security, Francisco Martinez, addressed the
parliament, discussing the possibility of extremists connected to the
Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS) using Ebola as a weapon against the
West.
There are many examples of online terrorist chat logs discussing the use
of biological warfare against the West, Spains RTVE public broadcasting
corporation reported.
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko"
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