Focus on Africa: The Resilience of Survivors

GLOBAL HEALTH WORKING GROUP

Focus on Africa: The Resilience of Survivors Jennyfer Ambe Co-Chair WCAPS Global Health Working Group ES ECEPAS Working Group, The GET Consortium April 3rd 2020 Acknowledgements: Yusuf Kabba, President SLAES, Freetown, Sierra Leone Photos Courtesy of Pa Sesay, Freetown, Sierra Leone As a researcher, this article could easily have been on How are Vulnerable populations affected by Epidemics and Pandemics or What impact has COVID-19 had on vulnerable populations? These are key questions many are asking and will be tackled in due course. For now I will put a pause on that and share a story of resilience and hope.

In West Africa, the countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, suffered catastrophic loss of life. There was also a huge economic blow to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) during the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak which started in December 2013 and lasted until June 2016. The outbreak left over 10,000 orphans across the region with approximately 11,310 deaths.1 The Ethics, Community Engagement and Patient Advocacy Support (ECEPAS) working group of the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment (GET) Consortium were actively involved in bioethics reviews of protocols for research.2 At the same time researchers were involved in the convalescent plasma clinical trials to find out if the antibodies from recovered patients could be used to help others. Some of the survivors were integrated as part of the ECEPAS working group.

Members engaged with stakeholders in the region assisting with humanitarian and psycho-social needs, supporting the building of a network of survivors within each 1

Situation Report. Ebola Virus Disease. (2016, June 10). World Health Organization.

Kombe et al. (2015). Taking the bull by the horns: ethical consideration in the design and implementation of an ebola virus therapy trail. Social Science and Medicine.

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country in order for survivors to have the ability to advocate for their own needs. This relationship has continued between the Associations and the ECEPAS working group over the last few years.

Those who survived EVD are commonly known as survivors and have been deemed a vulnerable population. There are a myriad of ethical questions and considerations connected to the designation of vulnerability. What makes a certain population vulnerable and whose definitions are used to determine whether that group is vulnerable or not? Does this designation define the group? Could this definition have led to the stigma that was experienced due to fear and often, ignorance shown by others? How do categories impact people’s sense of self? How long does it take to “graduate” out of that designation?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has categorized the term vulnerability to cover individuals, communities, populations or an organization inferring the inability to recover from the impact of a disaster, making it difficult to cope with or resist and recover from such an impact”.3 The EVD outbreak was one such disaster. With the news spreading across the globe about COVID-19, survivors of EVD have been suffering from flashbacks, sleepless nights, night sweats and other psychological trauma.

Success stories Yusuf Kabba, the President of the Survivors of Ebola has been having flashbacks to that dreadful time during the EVD outbreak. Words such as; quarantine, isolation and lockdown are currently having a negative effect on him. So are the sights of buckets with bleach water often used in areas where there is no running water, for hand washing, the sight of people with thermometers, taking temperatures prior to entering certain locations.

Yet Yusuf is a very strong and vocal community advocate for health education and sensitization.

He has been using key messaging to advocate and re-educate the community about COVID-19.4 This resilience and strength of character provides hope.

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Environmental, health emergencies and disasters a practical guide, (2002) Personal Communication with Yusuf Kabba (March 19, 2020)

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After hearing of the shortage of face masks some Survivors in Freetown, Sierra Leone were not about to let another disease outbreak scare them and take away their livelihoods. They decided they would use their skills in sewing learned through programs such as Project 1808 led by Alhaji N’Jai5 to make face masks for those who need them. People are clearly not defined by the definitions used to describe them or by data or statistics. This is a story of hope in the light of yet another devastating pandemic, a disease known as COVID-19 caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

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Project 1808 retrieved from http://www.project1808.org

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