By Mustapha Kamara
UN Women yesterday launched its mainstreaming strategy for Sierra Leone’s Ebola Emergency Unit to help address and prevent the further spread of the hemorrhagic Ebola Virus disease in the country.
At the ceremony in Freetown, the UN’s resident coordinator, McLachlan Karr, said that the Ebola outbreak was a global crisis which had killed thousands of people in a short while.
He encouraged everyone to be aware of the treatment of the virus, adding that affected countries in Africa should put aside cultural and traditional practices and concentrate on the fight.
He called for women’s participation to be increased in order to surmount the struggle against Ebola, urging health workers restore their confidence so that they could continue fighting.
In her keynote address, Associate Professor at the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Louisville, Kentucky in the USA, Dr. Muriel Harris, said women were more vulnerable to the disease “because of so many socio-economic reasons”.
She said a recent survey conducted proved that most women in the three West African countries affected by Ebola had lost their lives after contracting the deadly Ebola disease when they took care of their sick loved ones.
“Most women contract the disease while attending to their sick family members or relatives and while washing and preparing corpses of their loved ones. They are care givers”, Dr. Harris said.
She said the strategy comprised technical information on how to prevent women from contracting the virus, reducing risk of infection rate and guidance on how to take care of their sick husbands and family members.
She urged the government to be vigilant and to ensure the quick return of test results after samples taken would have been observed, adding that they should also keep corpses and burial teams far away from residential areas to ensure safety precautions toward preventing the spread of the disease.
Minister of social welfare gender and children’s affairs, Alhaji Moijueh Kaikai, said the livelihood of most Sierra Leonean women had been taken away because “they are farmers who have invested a lot in their farms but have not been able to work on them as a result of government orders”.
He said as a government they were aware of the fact that women and children had indeed suffered, and revealed that his ministry was rehabilitating two care centres in Kailahun to take care of affected women and children.
“We hope the virus is eradicated soon because the longer it stays the more women will continue to contract the virus and die,” he said.
UN Women’s representative in Sierra Leone, Dr. Mary Okomu, pointed out that women needed to be protected and represented in all formal processes relating to the national response to the Ebola outbreak in the country. She said they also needed to feel secure.
She said authorities, including religious and traditional leaders, women’s civil society groups and youth organisations must be engaged and invited or consulted in overall response and prevention processes.
She also noted that funding for all aspects of crisis prevention and recovery must address women’s needs. She advised the government to strengthen the integration of the EVD prevention and response into day-to-day activities and initiatives.
Dr. Okomu said awareness-raising and organisation of trainings for national actors, decision-makers and the media on EVD reporting was very important.
(C) Politico 02/10/14
