Guinean government halts Ebola Education activities in southeast region

CONAKRY, GUINEA —

The Guinean government said it is stopping Ebola education activities in the country’s southeast after seven missing health workers and journalists were murdered there this week. Two other workers remain missing.

Meanwhile, Sierra Leone Sierra Leone on Friday began a controversial nationwide three-day lockdown as it struggles to contain the deadly Ebola virus, which the U.N. Security Council this week declared a “threat to international peace and security.”

In Guinea’s southeastern town of Wome, the bodies of four Ebola campaigners and three local journalists traveling with them were discovered Thursday in a mass grave. They had been missing since angry residents attacked their convoy Tuesday.  

The victims were traveling with a government delegation to Wome to raise awareness on Ebola.

Villagers attacked the convoy with stones and weapons and destroyed six vehicles. Other members of the delegation were beaten but managed to escape.

Team allegedly accused of lying

A local reporter told VOA by telephone that villagers accused the delegation of spreading lies about Ebola.

The delegation was trying to educate locals about Ebola, said Guinea’s prime minister, Mohamed Said Fofanah. Villagers in Wome, as in other places, are still “intoxicated by information making them believed this sickness does not exist or was created to eliminate them.”

Outreach activities have become “impossible” in the southeast, said Dr. Fanta Kabba, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health. She said efforts there will now focus just on treating the sick.

“We are waiting for more details” and trying to figure out why locals resist, she said. ”… Putting in place the strategies to fight Ebola has become impossible. We cannot act when we are being prevented from acting.”

Third attack on health workers

This is third major attack on health workers in southeastern Guinea since the regional outbreak began there early this year.

Minister of Communication Alucine Makanera, who was in Wome, told VOA the murdered workers had marks indicating they were attacked with machetes and stones.

"We have the state prosecutor with us to find out the cause of the attack," Makanera said. “He has already opened judicial investigations, and within few days or weeks we should know more."

Many residents of Wome fled following the attack, he said, and security forces are deployed there now. Authorities have arrested at least six people in connection with the murders.

The incident has sent shock waves through the country, with many Guineans calling for strong sanctions against the culprits.

Sierra Leone begins lockdown

Sierra Leone's 6 million residents have been told to stay home Friday, Saturday and Sunday while volunteers go door to door, looking for hidden Ebola cases and giving people information on how to avoid the deadly disease.

Health experts have criticized the shutdown, arguing the coercive measures could drive some people into hiding and could be extremely hard to implement.

The World Health Organization puts the number of Ebola cases at more than 5,300, with over 2,600 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Nigeria has also reported 21 cases, with eight fatalities.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the creation of the U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response to be based in the affected region.

The United States announced this week that, at Liberia's request, Washington would deploy 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa to coordinate the medical and humanitarian response to Ebola.

The soldiers will be based in Monrovia and tasked with training medical workers, managing supplies and building new treatment facilities.

China offers more aid

On Thursday, China committed 200 million yuan, or about $33 million, in new emergency aid to the U.N., targeted to containing Ebola epidemic, the Associated Press reported. The country also offered $2 million to the World Health Organization and the African Union to fight the disease. A team of 59 Chinese laboratory specialists arrived in Sierra Leone Thursday to assist with testing. To date, China has sent 174 medical experts to the region.   

WHO chief Margaret Chan said earlier this month "human resources" are the biggest need in response to the outbreak.

Chan said "we most especially need compassionate doctors and nurses" who know how to comfort patients despite the barriers of wearing personal protective equipment and working under "very demanding conditions."

A French volunteer nurse working for Doctors Without Borders who contracted Ebola in Liberia returned home Friday. She is now receiving experimental treatments. 

Some information for this report was drawn from Reuters and the Associated Press.

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