By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Spokesperson for the civil society group, Mental Health Coalition, has appealed to communities to incorporate and not ostracise people who have survived the Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone.
George Bindi told a press conference at the Sierra Leone nongovernmental organisations headquarters in Freetown that Ebola survivors were being rejected by their communities.
He claimed that that was common in Kenema where people who had been cured of Ebola virus were being rejected at places of worship, adding that the post-traumatic stress disorder that the survivors faced could negatively affect their thinking power and daily activities.
He said the survivors needed psychosocial counseling, and to that his coalition had deployed a team of 30 psychosocial counselors across the country.
“Let us go out and counsel Ebola survivors and build strong communities for them so that the future will be bright for the country,” said urged and declared that those who had survived Ebola “are the safest persons because it is difficult for them to contract the virus for the second time.” He said the survivors had strong antibodies in their body systems to resist the disease.
Bindi also appealed to nongovernmental organisations to render humanitarian services to children who had been made orphans by the Ebola disease.
“Some of these children are hopeless, so if NGOs can come and help it will be good for this nation,” he said and described the Ebola disease as a “new phenomenon in the country.”
Programme officer, Emerson Williams, revealed that they had recorded 313 cases of orphaned children as a result of the Ebola outbreak in the country. He said the children were being looked after by humanitarian organisations.
“Let us come together and fight for this nation,” Williams appealed.
(C) Politico 21/10/14
