Every Day New Cases Of Ebola Are Detected In Liberia

Every day new cases of Ebola are detected in Liberia and it is essential to get these new samples to the laboratory of the World Health Organization (WHO)in Guéckédou, Guinea.

The epidemic of Ebola extends across the borders to neighbouring countries Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The samples here are ready and the border is ten kilometres away - time is essential.

The journey is a challenge. First, the samples are transported by dugout canoe, then they are placed in a vehicle and driven to the mobile laboratory in Guéckédou, where they are examined by technicians. The results of the samples are expected in less than three hours.

In a village near the border with Sierra Leone, a delegation including the Red Cross, UNICEF and WHO are working to educate the rural population about the virus.

WHO anthropologist Sylvain Faye says the people are unaware of what to do and are often frightened when one of the villagers shows symptoms of Ebola. Education about this disease he tells them, is essential to life.

He says their reluctance comes from fear.

Outreach will continue as long as the virus is active in an attempt to calm fears, dispell rumours and give advice on preventing infection. Every bit of information counts and is vital to saving another life.

SHOTLIST:
15-16 JULY 2014, GUECKEDOU, GUINEA-LIBERIA BORDER

Various shots, village and the border river
Various shots, boats and samples in white boxes and handling in lab
Various shots, WHO staff taking the samples to the laboratory
Various shots, Laboratory technicians working with the samples
Health worker in village calling people
Red Cross staff talking to people
Local health worker on loudspeaker talking to people

SOUNDBITE (French) Anne Bocquin, Lab technician, European mobile laboratory:
"Once the experiment is known we just look here, so actually when you have a curve like this is that the result is negative and this one was a curve that appears is a sample that is positive. Once one has the positive or negative physicians who sent us samples so there are samples of Liberia for their say on which samples are positive contact and which samples are negative."

SOUNDBITE (French) Sylvain Faye, WHO anthropologist:
"The disease is not only here, it can also be in some other villages as people circulate they can take it with them. We understood your needs and also the Red Cross, and we will continue to come to inform you and to help you, but we also count on you from the near villages to come so we can avoid the resistance and the problems."
SOUNDBITE (French) Sylvain Faye, WHO anthropologist:
"Here in this area, the reticence of the villages is linked to the fact that the people has been caught by surprise by the disease and they are afraid of Ebola."

DURATION: 03:09