Liberia's Largest Rubber Producer Defies Ebola

Unlike many other businesses, Firestone, Liberia's largest rubber producer, has continued its operations in the Ebola-hit country, enforcing a no-visitation policy and opening a special Ebola-treatment unit to attend to its staff and the local community.



"Firestone, the largest rubber producer in Liberia and world, will not leave or scale down its workforce due to the current health crisis," Carlos Smith, the company's communications, government and external relations manager, told Anadolu Agency.



Since the second outbreak of Ebola in June, Liberia's economy has suffered due to the departure of investors from the country – making life even harder for many Liberians.



But Smith asserted that the company's production had not been affected, with workers continuing to report to work and the company still shipping out rubber.



"There is no impact on production, except the reduction in the price of rubber on the world market, which started before the Ebola outbreak in Liberia," he noted.



In recent months, Ebola – a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure – has killed 4,922 worldwide, mostly in West Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).



A total of 2,705 deaths have been reported in Liberia alone.



"We will continue to strengthen our Ebola response within our concession area to ensure the disease does not break out among our over 7,000 employees and dependents," said Smith.



Firestone has operated in Liberia since 1926. A revised agreement signed in 2008 after President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf came into office allows the company to operate in the country until 2041.



Firestone has more than 3,400 homes for its employees and currently operates 27 schools that teach over 15,000 children, according to figures supplied by the company.



It also runs nine healthcare facilities for all its employees and their dependents.



-No visits-



According to Smith, the first Ebola case reported among the Firestone community was an employee's wife who had visited her family in Lofa County, an epicenter of the virus.



"If we had not arrested it earlier, there would have been a serious outbreak within our concession," he said.



The company has since declared a "no-visitation" policy, which forbids employees from hosting strangers or distant relatives in their homes.



Violators risk being dismissed or facing other punitive measures by the company.



"Our employees are actually practicing the policy laid down: to stay away from visiting people and not to allow visitors in," said Smith. "We are straight about it."



The company has already dismissed 12 employees for violating the policy.



The average size of a Firestone employee's household is six, including children. Some 90 percent of the company's housing units having two bedrooms.



The company fears that an Ebola infection in a single household could threaten the entire family, and even next-door neighbors, since every two families share a single house.



"All the housing units assigned to our employees are just two bedrooms, and there is no vacant room in any house," said Smith. "If a visitor comes, they're usually accommodated in one of the rooms with the family and children."



"Therefore, anyone who contracts the disease and is taken in by a family here puts the entire family at risk, which could affect our entire workforce," he insisted.



One factor that Liberia's health authorities have blamed for the rapid spread of Ebola in the country is the practice of relocating those whose relatives have died of the virus from one community or house to another.



-Treating Ebola-



Since the second Ebola flare-up began, Firestone has set up and managed its own Ebola-treatment unit and holding center inside its concession area.



"We aren't getting support from anybody, not the government or anybody," Smith lamented. "Everything we are doing to contain Ebola is being done by Firestone."



"From the time we [Liberia] had the first Ebola case… we researched the internet to know all about Ebola – that was how we used the MSF manual to set up our own Ebola-treatment unit and holding center," he explained.



The company also takes in patients from neighboring communities, which has helped ease the hardship for families wanting to transfer sick relatives to capital Monrovia, as it usually takes several days for an ambulance to arrive.



"We have our own burial, sanitation and hygienic teams," Dr. Lyndon G. Mabande, head of Firestone's 181-member medical team, told AA.



"We also have our own nurses and doctors who are treating patients," he said. "The only thing Firestone doesn't have is an Ebola testing lab."



Mabande said roughly 40 percent of the patients at their Ebola-treatment unit and holding center were not employees.



Out of 55 confirmed cases reported since August 8, he added, 21 had survived the potentially-deadly virus.



Mabande asserted that the number of Ebola cases had fallen drastically since late September, with only one confirmed case now at the treatment unit and two suspected cases at the holding center.



The company also now receives fewer calls for help from local residents and is no longer collecting bodies from nearby communities.



Some observers attribute the seeming improvement to the efforts of the company's roughly 400 teachers, who have carried out public-awareness campaigns while local schools remain closed due to ongoing fears of the virus.



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