Uganda: MSF Makes Progress On Ebola Response

The response to the Ebola epidemic that broke out at the end of July in Western Uganda is moving forward thanks to the joint effort of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Ugandan Ministry of Health (MoH) and other organisations. In approximately one week, the MSF emergency team has set up an Ebola treatment centre, isolated the patients that have contracted the virus from suspected cases and implemented a protection system for the health staff, the most vulnerable group in these types of outbreaks.

So far, 17 people have died due to the epidemic whose epicentre is the Ugandan district of Kibaale. Nine patients are admitted in the treatment centre within the Kagadi hospital premises. Of them, two Ebola cases have been confirmed and the rest are under observation and awaiting test results. The good news is that last week about twenty people were discharged, including a woman that contracted Ebola, recovered and is now ready to return home.

Psychological support of patients

“The fight to contain the epidemic is a complex process, but the fact that hospital admissions are decreasing suggests that transmission is happening at a low level,” says Paul Roddy, MSF epidemiologist. “So far, the outbreak has reached a 27 per cent fatality rate.”

In order to control the epidemic, MSF has built a close collaboration with the Ugandan MoH and other organisations such as the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the Ugandan Red Cross and the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the challenges is the provision of psychosocial support to the patients and their families. MSF is working with the authorities to avoid rejection within the communities when patients return home.

Raising awareness to prevent stigmatisation

“A man and three of his children had been admitted but the lab confirmed that they were not suffering from Ebola,” said Segimon Garcia, an information, communication and education officer. “An MoH psychosocial team spoke with the neighbours of this family to explain to them that they did not have Ebola. On 6 August, the family returned home on a MSF vehicle together with psychologists in order to guarantee a proper reception.”

Ebola is a virus that was detected for the first time in humans in 1976 in Zaire, the former Democratic Republic of the Congo. There is neither treatment nor vaccination for it and its mortality rate within the affected population varies based on the strain and other factors such as genetic susceptibility and simultaneous diseases. Notwithstanding this fact, many people manage to survive this haemorrhagic fever transmitted through body fluids. Raising awareness among the communities where epidemics break out is essential to prevent patients and their families from being stigmatised.