Do Ebola educators make a difference?

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Thu, 2015-01-29 18:00 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by John Momodu Kargbo Jan. 29. 2015

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- The initial Ebola case in Tambakha [a remote chiefdom near the Guinea border] coincided with the proper training of the first set of Ebola educators. They were deployed in mid-October to educate local people on the prevention and control of Ebola and to help monitor the advent of newcomers into their communities, possible carriers.

Health workers conduct a campaign raising awareness of the Ebola virus in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photograph: Tanya Bindra/EPA

The first case, a woman from Freetown who was suspected to have escaped from a quarantined home, fell ill at the village of Tomparay, just over the river at the entrance to Tambakha, and died about a week later....

In total, 15 people died in this first outbreak in Tambakha, in just two villages – Tomparay and neighbouring Samaya. I am certain that, were it not for our work, the number could have been higher. Just look at what happened when Ebola arrived in Koinadugu, where people in a remote district had not heard about the disease and not had Ebola awareness training – it was like a massacre.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/29/ebola-educators-sierra-leone

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