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‘Ebola to leave generation of distressed kids’

Ayee Macaraig

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UNICEF highlights the psycho-social impact of Ebola on children in West Africa, where many of them have become orphaned and forced out of school

TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE. UNICEF says Ebola is profoundly affecting the lives of children in Liberia, where the disease left 600 of them orphans. File photo by Dominique Faget/AFP

UNITED NATIONS – In the eyes of the children of West Africa, Ebola means being forced out of school and sports. Some of them have to deal with the pain and confusion of seeing their parents die, and watching astronaut-looking burial teams in hazmat suits take away their mothers and fathers.

“It’s puzzling, traumatizing,” said Sarah Crowe, crisis communications chief of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Having returned from a trip to the hardest-hit country of Liberia, Crowe said that the worst Ebola outbreak will leave “a deeply distressed generation of children.”

“They see things even adults have difficulty understanding,” Crowe said at a press briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York on Friday, October 17. 

“One little girl asked, ‘When does Ebola leave Liberia because I wanna get back to school?’”

As the world struggles to respond to the global crisis, Crowe highlighted the impact of Ebola on one of the most vulnerable segments of society: children.

UNICEF data showed that Ebola orphaned 3,700 children in the region, with 600 of the figure in Liberia alone.

Crowe said that the disease profoundly changed the lives of children, from interrupting their education, altering their family life and living conditions, and even complicating basic interaction.

“Children will come up to you and touch you. But now we have to keep a distance. Nobody shakes hands anymore. They brush elbows. It’s a difficult thing to do with children. It’s a very strange, inhumane experience. Psychologically, it’s immensely challenging,” said Crowe, who visited Liberia in September.

A former journalist, the UNICEF official said she observed how Ebola emotionally affected children in Liberia, where schools were shut to prevent the spread of the disease.

“Children are frustrated because they are not in school. They feel they are wasting time. Schools are used as makeshift quarantine centers. Families with relatives who died from Ebola are advised to go these schools, and stay there for 21 days,” she said, referring to the 21-day quarantine period for Ebola.

To address the situation, Crowe said that UNICEF is piloting emergency on-air or radio schooling for the children.

The agency also opened interim care centers for children who lost parents to Ebola, airlifted protection kits, and began working with the Liberian government to develop standards and training for the care centers.

Yet she echoed top world leaders in saying that the response is simply not enough. UNICEF needs $300 million for the 3 hardest-hit countries Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone but Crowe said only a third of the appeal is funded.

The World Health Organization said 4,555 people died from Ebola out of a total of 9,216 cases in 7 countries as of October 14. The actual number though is expected to be higher because of unreported cases. The WHO said it is likely there will be 10,000 cases of Ebola a week by December. (FAST FACTS: Ebola)

'PUZZLING, TRAUMATIC.' This is how UNICEF Crisis Communications Chief describes the experience of children in Liberia with the Ebola outbreak. UN Photo/Loey Felipe

‘Sprinting in a monumental marathon’

While UNICEF is working with governments and aid groups on the ground, Crowe said the disparity between the need and the response is stark.

“There are not enough partners on the ground, not enough NGOs on the ground. Many left. Some came back. Our message is we need them back. We need as many partners as we can have to work with: health NGOs, protection NGOs, hands-on type of organizations,” she said.

Crowe said that when she headed to Liberia last month, the lack of aid coming into the country surprised her.

“The strange thing for me is I usually see planeloads of people going in. On this one, the plane was empty going there. Now, you can see a lot of activity I did not see there in September. That’s encouraging but not fast enough. We’re all sprinting. It’s a monumental marathon,” she said.

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon admitted that the UN only has $100,000 left in its trust fund for Ebola after appealing for $1 billion. Ban, US President Barack Obama, World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim and former UN chief Kofi Annan have said that the response of the international community was late and wanting.

Crowe said that for Liberia and Sierra Leone in particular, Ebola affected other aspects of development like pulling back gains the countries made in fighting child morality and improving maternal health since emerging from civil war. 

“When Ebola broke out, in Liberia, the number of births attended by health professionals dropped from 52% to 38%. These are the secondary impacts, collateral damage that we haven’t been talking about enough,” she said.

Survivors, teachers stepping up

Despite the grim situation, Crowe said there were also positive developments, with communities taking it upon themselves to help each other.

She said a network of Ebola survivors is caring for young children in Liberia to give them the love and support they need.

There is also a network of 26,000 teachers who shifted to becoming educators on Ebola in their communities. UNICEF is working to train them.

Other orphans get reunited with members of their extended family, with aunts opening the doors of their homes to nieces and nephews.  

“The survivors of Ebola, for them it’s really like a new birth certificate. They have ceremonies in the afternoon in the treatment centers for those who survive, and nearly half of them do,” Crowe said.

“It’s quite impressive to see survivors take part in supporting others.” – Rappler.com

 

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