How fear is keeping post-Ebola West Africa away from physicians

Orange County, CA - August 17th 2017 -  After the first case of Ebola broke out in West Africa in March of 2014, the world waited with bated breath wondering where the disease would spread to next. More than 11,300 people from 10 different countries lost their lives fighting the infection. It wreaked havoc around the world for almost two years before all of West Africa was finally declared Ebola-free on January 14th, 2016. There hasn’t been a new case reported in months, but that hasn’t stopped fear from affecting West Africa’s people.

"During Ebola, people left to go to the clinic but they never came back," says M'mah Camara, a mother from Kalemodiagbe village who declined care during pregnancy. When people stopped coming back, others stopped leaving.

Many expectant mothers in villages across West Africa are still refusing to visit hospitals, clinics, or health posts to receive pregnancy care, birth assistance, and/or vaccines. Mamanata Soumah is another woman in Kalemodiagbe village who didn’t seek a healthcare physician at any point during her pregnancy. She said she felt her baby moving up until the end. She endured three days of painful contractions and still refused to see anyone. Her baby died during labor.

How fear is keeping post-Ebola West Africa away from physicians

Guinea has a 1 in 30 chance of dying during child birth and 1 in 10 children die under 5. Getting expectant mothers the care that they need was a problem before Ebola, but now an even bigger gap exists due to the mistrust of healthcare officials. People were blaming the spread of the disease on traveling healthcare physicians. Their advice not to touch infected individuals, even your children, or to wash the dead, a cultural custom was ignored.

Ebola treatment centers that once had barely any space to spare now stand desolate. A hospital in Forecariah is running 30% to 50% of its normal capacity because people are still too afraid to go to the hospital. The facility would normally tend to more than 50 patients a day and is now usually under 20. One report found drops of up to 73 percent compared to pre-Ebola numbers.

This also affects people suffering from treatable illnesses. Villagers afraid of contracting Ebola from doctors or at hospitals are dying from largely preventable causes and illnesses. Polio and measles outbreaks are emerging because children aren’t being vaccinated. All of this could be made infinity worse if there were to be another Ebola breakout in the country.

The set-backs made by the Ebola breakout are already apparent and will take years to overcome. The main goal is bridging the knowledge gap between healthcare officials and West Africa’s people.

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Ampronix is a renowned authorized master distributor of the medical industry's top brands as well as a world class manufacturer of innovative technology. Since 1982, Ampronix has been dedicated to meeting the growing needs of the medical community with its extensive product knowledge, outstanding service, and state-of-the-art repair facility. Ampronix prides itself on its ability to offer tailored, one-stop solutions at a faster and more cost effective rate than other manufacturers. Ampronix is an ISO & ANSI/ESD certified facility. To learn more go here.

 

How fear is keeping post-Ebola West Africa away from physicians Orange County, CA – August 17th 2017 –  After the first case of Ebola broke out in West Africa in March of 2014, the world waited with bated breath wondering where the disease would spread to next. More than 11,300 people from 10 different countries lost […]