Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is currently working to treat patients and contain the Ebola outbreak that is currently gripping Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in West Africa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 779 cases and 481 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak in these three countries.
Guinea
In Guinea, MSF is running three medical projects to respond to the Ebola emergency: one in Donka Hospital in Conakry, one in Telimele in Basse-Guinée, and another in Guéckédou, in Guinée forestière, the epicentre of the outbreak. On each project, MSF offers medical and psychosocial care in specialized Ebola treatment centers, ambulance services, disinfection of bodies, and safe burials. MSF is also carrying out activities to clean areas contaminated by the virus such as treatment centers, homes, and public places, and is offering support in contact tracing and epidemiological analysis.
- In Conakry, MSF has treated 59 patients with Ebola, 33 of whom have recovered.
- In Gueckedou, the team has treated 130 patients, and 31 have recovered.
Also, in Telimele, the MSF team has treated 21 confirmed cases, 16 of whom have recovered. MSF is in the process of closing the project, as there were no cases for 21 days.
Likewise, MSF has closed the treatment center in Macenta, Guinée forestière, as there were no new cases for 21 days. In Macenta, teams treated seven people—five died, and two recovered.
Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, MSF is operating in Kailahun, Kenema, Koindu, and Daru, in the east of the country. MSF set up the 50-bed treatment center in Kailahun, which has been operating since the beginning of July.
MSF has already treated 45 suspected, probable, and confirmed cases of Ebola in Kailahun project. Twelve of those patients have died. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH), teams are also seeing patients at pre-screening facilities in Koindu and Daru. While doing their outreach activities, MSF teams have learned that there are 10 to 15 suspected cases of Ebola in some villages. Working with teh MoH, MSF identified one village with more than 40 suspected cases.
Liberia
MSF is supporting the MoH in their efforts to stop the spread of Ebola in Monrovia with a team of four. In Foya, MSF is handing over the project it set up to another NGO.
