1/3/2024 0 Comments Mou boots sale![]() “We can’t be caring for children all of the time, because you can only wear PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for one hour at a time. Healthcare workers say people like her play an invaluable role. Baby clothes were hung up to dry on the fence of the single-story compound, which had been freshly decorated in cartoon murals.Ĭhristvie’s mother had recently died of Ebola, and staff were closely monitoring the baby to see if she would fall sick.įor Kitsa, volunteering at the centre is a “way of keeping love alive,” at a time when Ebola is robbing families of the ability to care for their loved ones. On a recent morning, she strolled around a yard of hard-packed earth, rocking 7-month-old Christvie in her arms. She now does shifts at a childcare facility operated by the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF, taking turns with other survivors to sleep next to the babies’ cots on mosquito-netted beds. Others were orphaned or left on their own when their parents went into treatment.Ĭlaudine Kitsa, 40, had to place a child in care while she was being treated for Ebola in the nearby trading hub of Butembo. More than two out of every three children sickened in this outbreak have died, according to WHO figures. “I treat the child like she’s my own, so she’s at ease even while she’s away from her parents.”Ī few cubes down, the body of a 2-year-old boy who had died in the night lay on a bed, his thin frame barely making a bump under the flowered sheet that had been pulled up over his face.Ĭhildren are especially vulnerable to the virus because their bodies are less able to cope with the extreme fluid loss caused by diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and bleeding, doctors say. ![]() “My goal is to make her happy,” Masika said of her small charge, the youngest of five family members who were being treated at the centre. Furaha slipped a skinny arm around Masika’s neck and leaned her head against the woman for support. When the needle attached to Furaha’s intravenous drip had to be replaced, Masika gently lifted the girl and carried her to the back of the cube so a medic in full protective gear could find a new vein. The cubes allow patients to see relatives during treatment, albeit through thick plastic walls. She rocked and fanned Furaha, a little girl who rarely stirred or cried. When Reuters visited in late March, Masika was spending most of her time in a clear plastic isolation cube. She is one of at least 23 former patients employed at the centre in Beni, which is run by the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA). Masika’s experience inspired her to join the fight against Ebola, comforting sick and frightened children who have to be isolated from their families and familiar surroundings to avoid infecting others. “I felt bad all over my body: headache, stomach ache, diarrhoea, vomiting, tiredness.” ![]() “It’s like suffering from all the diseases of Congo at the same time,” she said. She was admitted to the same treatment centre where she now works in September and stayed there for 21 days, battling horrific symptoms. “It was as if Ebola had chosen my family,” she said. Masika lost 10 relatives to the virus four of those infected in her family survived. The outbreak is surpassed only by one in West Africa in 2013-16, which is believed to have killed more than 11,000 people. More than 800 people, including at least 248 under the age of 18, have died since the outbreak began in August. Of the more than 1,150 confirmed and probable Ebola cases, 29% are children, according to figures from the World Health Organization. Masika is one of dozens of survivors who are providing care - and much-needed human contact - to some of the littlest victims of the second-worst Ebola epidemic on record. The 33-year-old mother of six can spend entire days with patients at a treatment centre in the North Kivu town of Beni, offering a comforting presence among a crowd of faceless figures with names written on their suits in marker pen. The outfits are hot, and in the stifling tropical temperatures of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo this limits the time they can spend with patients fighting for their lives in isolation units.īut Masika has antibodies in her system after she won her own battle against Ebola last year, and she now has immunity. Most health care workers need a surgical mask, goggles, hooded coveralls, an apron, rubber boots and two pairs of gloves to avoid catching the virus that typically kills around half those it infects. * Also serve as advocates for seeking treatmentīENI, Democratic Republic of Congo, April 17 (Reuters) - W earing a disposable gown and gloves for protection, Jeanine Masika cradles a 2-year-old Ebola patient and offers the listless toddler teaspoons of brown soup. * Dozens help care for patients at Congo treatment centres
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