
Alison Schafer is a trained psychologist working with the international humanitarian agency World Vision.
On January 12, she went to Sierra Leone from her home in Melbourne to work on the social, emotional and psychological effects of the Ebola epidemic, which during the past year has killed more than 10,250 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
“Actually, when it started, we had the fear that it was Redemption Hospital. We felt that Redemption Hospital was not treated correctly and they were killing, so we sat in the house with the virus for one week and everything broke loose. We were waiting for Island clinic to open. So we in the house said that we will not go to Redemption until Island clinic can open”, Josephine Dolley, Ebola survivor
The recent outbreak of the Ebola virus epidemic in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has exposed the underbelly of many of Africa’s healthcare systems. They are often poorly funded, severely neglected and in some cases virtually nonexistent. The disease’s virulence has overwhelmed health systems that even before Ebola lacked basic equipment and facilities, medical staff and supporting infrastructure.
For a fleeting moment last spring, the epidemic sweeping West Africa might have been stopped. But the opportunity to control the virus, which has now caused more than 7,800 deaths, was lost.
A health worker who just returned to Scotland from Sierra Leone has been diagnosed as the country's first Ebola case, Scottish authorities said Monday. The Scottish government said on its website that infectious-disease procedures have been put into effect, and the patient has been isolated and is being treated on the Gartnavel Hospital campus in Glasgow.
Lovetta Kamara, 26, died last Saturday after she developed complications due to delay in receiving medical attention in Monrovia after delivery.
Sierra Leone's president implored the country's traditional leaders on Thursday to stop cultural practices that have been blamed for spreading Ebola, like burials that involve touching corpses.
“People really doubted the fact that Ebola was real, until we heard about the first case in the hospital. I wasn’t one of those who doubted though. Because I am a student nurse, I had read about the Ebola virus before, how it was first discovered back in 1976.”
Fifteen-year-old Mada Karimu has not been to his school since it closed on July 18th. But he's still learning. All he needs is a notebook and a small radio, on which he listens to classes each day.
President Barack Obama will be awarded the bulk of his $6.2 billion request to fight Ebola in Africa, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee said Thursday.
Deep inside a drug manufacturing plant in an industrial district of suburban Rome, vials of Ebola vaccine sit in freezers, chilled to minus 70 degrees Celsius with the help of liquid nitrogen. Much warmer -- say, the temperature in outdated kerosene-fueled fridges in some West African villages -- risks destroying the drug.
President Obama will speak at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Tuesday to tout progress on a much-needed Ebola vaccine that has shown promise in early trials.
The head of the UN Ebola response mission in West Africa has told the BBC there is still a "huge risk" the deadly disease could spread to other parts of the world. Tony Banbury declined to say if targets he had set in the fight against Ebola, to be achieved by Monday, had been met.
Washington, DC-- Registered nurses at Providence Hospital in the District of Columbia, will hold a one-day strike on Wednesday, November 12 to protest the hospital’s refusal to address critical issues of health and safety concerns for patients and nurses as symbolized by inadequate Ebola preparedness
Imagine going to the polls on Election Day and discovering that your ballot could be collected and reviewed by the…
Read More
On a night of Democratic victories, one of the most significant wins came in Virginia, where the party held onto…
Read More
"It's time for Congress to finally act to restore the Voting Rights Act, and put an end to these kinds…
Read More
A seismic political battle that could send shockwaves all the way to the White House was launched last week in…
Read More
A bill that seeks to restore voting rights for certain felons is drawing diverse support from groups including the Washoe…
Read More
Donald Trump was right: the system is rigged! But it is rigged for the Republicans, not the Democrats, for conservatives,…
Read More
Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Saturday announced they would participate in former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s recount of the…
Read More
Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein’s call to raise funds to support vote recounts in three key states was met…
Read More
Police raided the largest voter registration drive in the state with the lowest voter turnout in the country.
Read More
Voting-rights groups are asking a federal court to block the law before the November election.
Read More
The real measure of election integrity is that every eligible American can cast a vote that is counted. But this…
Read More
Ohio's policy is said to be the most aggressive in the nation with more than 2 million registered voters removed…
Read More
The Virginia Supreme Court rejected a petition from Republican leaders on Thursday that sought to hold Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe…
Read More
Virginia Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. announced Thursday that he’ll introduce a constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting…
Read More
Virginia Republican leaders said they will file a contempt motion on Wednesday against Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe over his efforts…
Read More
Imagine going to the polls on Election Day and discovering that your ballot could be collected and reviewed by the… Read More
ACLU Blueprints Offer Vision to Cut US Incarceration Rate in Half by Prioritizing 'People Over Prisons' Read More
"These disasters drag into the light exactly who is already being thrown away," notes Naomi Klein Read More
How about some good news? Kansas Democratic Representative advances bill for Native Peoples. Read More
What mattered was that he showed up — that he put himself in front of the people whose opinions on… Read More
On a night of Democratic victories, one of the most significant wins came in Virginia, where the party held onto… Read More
A seismic political battle that could send shockwaves all the way to the White House was launched last week in… Read More
In an interview with Reuters conducted a month after he took office, Donald Trump asserted that the U.S. had “fallen… Read More
Attorney General Jeff Sessions overturned the sweeping criminal charging policy of former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. and directed… Read More
Imagine going to the polls on Election Day and discovering that your ballot could be collected and reviewed by the… Read More
On a night of Democratic victories, one of the most significant wins came in Virginia, where the party held onto… Read More
A seismic political battle that could send shockwaves all the way to the White House was launched last week in… Read More
Donald Trump was right: the system is rigged! But it is rigged for the Republicans, not the Democrats, for conservatives,… Read More
Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Saturday announced they would participate in former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s recount of the… Read More
The Virginia Supreme Court rejected a petition from Republican leaders on Thursday that sought to hold Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe… Read More
On Tuesday the Virginia Supreme Court heard arguments in a suit challenging Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s (D) April order that restored… Read More
When Larry Harmon tried to vote on a marijuana initiative in November in his hometown of Kent, Ohio, the 59-year-old… Read More
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed an order on Friday restoring the voting rights of more than 200,000 convicted felons who… Read More