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Declan Walsh

👤 Speaker
427 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

He was lying on the bed with a tissue stuffed into his nose to staunch the bleeding with his dad watching over him.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

But just two beds away from that boy lay the body of a 21-year-old woman who had died yesterday.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

during the night and her remains had still not been removed.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

Now, the bodies of people who have just died from Ebola are incredibly infectious, yet it was just covered by a thin sheet that had been pulled over.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

That only added to that sense of danger inside that treatment facility.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

And in fact, people were being infected at the hospital because when we went into the next ward, we found the lab technician from the hospital who himself had gotten infected

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

apparently infected with Ebola as part of his job taking samples from other people.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

And we later learned that seven other staff members from that hospital had already died from the virus.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

That was just a sign of how bad conditions were in that hospital.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

And I was brought around the ward by a young Congolese doctor.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

He told me he was angry.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

He was angry at his own government, which had taken so long to detect this outbreak.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

It appears there was at least six weeks between the outbreak starting and the first case being tested and detected.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

But he was also more broadly angry

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

angry at the international response system towards Ebola, he turned around to me at one point and he said, here we are in Mangualu, in the town where the epidemic started, where there are the highest number of cases, and yet this is the best we can do.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

Now, it's important to say that there is aid coming into this area.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

In the capital, Bunja, where I'm currently speaking from, there is an airport where planes are coming in, bringing supplies, much-needed supplies.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

There are other treatment centers being set up as well.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

But the challenge is, because data is so sparse, we don't really know the extent of this outbreak, how deep or how far it has spread inside the population.

The Headlines
Inside an Ebola Ward, and a Roadblock for Trump’s $1.8 Billion Fund

We don't really know if these facilities are going to be enough because the aid effort is so far behind the curve, it's not even keeping pace with this outbreak as of now.