SOS Addresses Ebola in West Africa

The Ebola virus outbreak crisis in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone emerged earlier this year and continues with devastating death counts. The virus has now killed 603 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with at least 68 deaths reported in the week of July 13-19, according to the World Health Organisation.

Fortunately, none of SOS Children’s Villages’ programming in these regions have been affected by the outbreak thus far, thanks to exceptional cautionary measures.

At the SOS Village in Liberia’s capital of Monrovia, for example, a visitor will find at every main entrance a handwashing station with chloral and other anti-bacterials.

Monrovia SOS Village Director, James Collins, confirms that the staff are doing everything possible to prevent the spread of the virus in the village.

He said, while Liberian government is trying hard to combat the virus, it was necessary for other institutions to take proactive steps to stop the spread of the virus.

Still, the courage and persistence of SOS in Monrovia is no small feat: the SOS Medical Centre remains open while many other hospitals are not open: in some cases, nurses and patients have fled the hospital.

On July 16, a special team from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare came to the SOS Medical Centre in Monrovia to congratulate them for their extraordinary efforts.

SOS Children’s Villages takes the same precautionary measures in any country marked by the epidemic, ensuring that their services are still available to the population at risk.