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Seán Farrell

👤 Speaker
71 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

So I would say for our staff, it's really two major feelings.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

First of all, concern for their own families themselves as they respond, but also concern for the communities in which they work.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

And the second one is, I think, from talking to the staff in Bunia, a real determination to make a huge difference and to try and stop the spread of this disease.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

And particularly in some of the huge camps where we work on the edge of Bunia.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

Maybe one thing for your listeners, David, that's maybe not known, while

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

Ettore is about the size of Ireland, with a population of five million people.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

Bunya, which is the main town in Ettore, is at the epicentre of this.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

But there are huge camps of displaced people

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

not just in Eturi, but also around Bunia.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

So of that 5 million people, due to the ongoing conflict in eastern DR Congo, about 1 million people are displaced in camps.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

So this obviously is a huge challenge in terms of coordination and response.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

It does, and it obviously makes things like what we learned from the last outbreak in 2018 in DRC, what we learned from the 2014 outbreak in Sierra Leone, is that things like tracing and quarantine is key in terms of preventing and managing the spread.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

So it obviously makes it much more difficult to do adequate tracing and particularly to do quarantine when we're in a situation where so many people are displaced

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

but also in a situation where there are multiple armed groups operating in the area.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

We had an attack last week, for example, that killed 17 people in one village.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

So in a context of ongoing conflict, it makes a response even more complicated than it would be, for example, in a country like Uganda.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

I think the first thing to say about Uganda is that it has managed Ebola outbreaks before.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

When I lived in Uganda, there were two outbreaks in the time that I lived there, and the Ugandan government managed them very, very well in terms of strict protocols, etc.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

At the moment, what we're looking at is about closing on 1,000 cases in eastern DR Congo, 120 deaths.

Today with David McCullagh
Ebola: death toll rises as infections spread

So far, seven cases in Uganda, but already the Ugandan authorities have taken

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