{"id":3957,"date":"2014-11-10T16:37:30","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T16:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.africlub.net\/awdf\/?p=3957"},"modified":"2020-10-28T09:40:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T09:40:51","slug":"letters-from-the-ground-women-organisations-respond-to-ebola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awdf.org\/OldSite\/letters-from-the-ground-women-organisations-respond-to-ebola\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters from the Ground: Women Organisations Respond to Ebola"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"WOCDAL\"<\/a>
In October, a team from the Women and Children Development Association of Liberia (WOCDAL) launched a series of awareness campaigns on ebola in project communities. WOCDAL uses music, dance and theater as critical strategies to disseminate health safety information. AWDF has supported WOCDAL with USD5,000 for community sensitisation meetings within Montserrado County, Liberia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the African Women\u2019s Development Fund (AWDF), we are actively working with women\u2019s organisations on the ground to respond to the ebola crisis.<\/p>\n

Members of our Grants department correspond with partner networks each week who are responding to community needs by amplifying accurate information about the virus and viable prevention methods, particularly to remote communities.<\/p>\n

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Below are excerpts of letters from the field written by AWDF\u2019s grantee partners in Liberia and Sierra Leone.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Women Solidarity, WSD-Liberia<\/b><\/p>\n

Bettea S. Monger<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The disease has spread to all 15 counties. It is no longer the business of the Liberian government. The virus is covering the entire country.<\/p>\n

The most affected communities are West Point, Montserrado, Dolo\u2019s Town, Margibi, Barkidu, Grand Kru, Lofa, Gbarpolu, Bong, Sinoe, Nimba, Kolahun and Foyah District Lofa counties.<\/p>\n

With limited and restricted financial resources, we have created public awareness and prevention strategies for the disease through the following activities:<\/p>\n

1. Radio awareness and prevention messages in two dialects (Kpaleh and Bassa) during the months of August and September. The radio program is presently operating in six counties including Montserrado, Margibi, Bong, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount and Grand Bassa.<\/p>\n

2. Printing and posting of information leaflets in the communities of Soul Clinic, Paynesville and Zaysay.<\/p>\n

One of the volunteers in our office has nearly lost her entire family to ebola. They were among the twenty-five (25) who succumbed to the virus on 20th August in the Kolahun district of Masabolahun.<\/p>\n

In many cases, a driver will take a patient from one health center to another until the person ends up dying inside the vehicle. The body could be in the vehicle for 2-3 days before the ebola response until takes it away. The death rate of women affected by ebola is quite high, particularly among pregnant women as well as children and babies.<\/p>\n

The increasing spread of ebola is due to people traveling from community to community without taking preventive measures into consideration. At the same time, awareness and prevention messages are yet to reach the most remote communities in the country.<\/p>\n

In an effort to rapidly respond to and combat the ebola crisis, we are in dire need of the following items:<\/p>\n