The Female Heroes Who Fought Against Ebola
Image via UNICEF
“I know how traumatizing Ebola is because I went through it and survived.”
Pandemics—like the one we’re in the midst of now—can spur uncertainty, but they’re not unbeatable. Time and again our communities have shown solidarity and women in medicine have put themselves on the front lines in order to combat the spread of illness. We’re sharing the stories of some of these women to lift us all up.
The Western African Ebola virus epidemic that spanned from 2013 to 2016 was the most widespread outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in history.
The index patient was reported in December 2013. After five additional cases of fatal diarrhea occurred in the area, an official medical alert was issued on January 24, 2014.
After the Ebola virus spread to Guinea’s capital city of Conakry, the Ministry of Health in Guinea issued an alert for an unidentified illness on March 13, 2014. The WHO officially declared an outbreak of EVD on March 23, 2014 with 49 confirmed cases and 29 deaths reported.
The outbreak quickly spread to Guinea’s bordering countries, Sierra Leone and Liberia. According to the CDC, “This was the first time EVD extended out from more isolated, rural areas and into densely populated urban centers, providing an unprecedented opportunity for transmission.”
The WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on August 8, 2014. Over the duration of the epidemic, EVD spread to seven more countries including Senegal, Nigeria, Mali, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
During this outbreak, many women—both those with and without medical degrees—worked on the front lines to treat those affected and stop the virus. Whether providing support or directly treating those with the disease, their contributions were invaluable. In addition to their medical roles, these women acted as surrogate mothers, sisters, friends, and mentors to patients who—due to the outbreak—could no longer be in contact with their own, or had lost them altogether.
Here are some of their stories.
Decontee Davies
Image via UNICEF
Many Ebola survivors took advantage of their immunity to the virus and returned to the front lines to help. One of these survivors was Decontee Davies.
Decontee volunteered at the UNICEF and Child Fund-supported Kelekula interim care centre in Monrovia, Liberia, where she cared for children who had lost family members to EVD and were suspected of having the virus themselves.
Although survivors with immunity can be a great asset during an outbreak, not all make good social workers; they need to be vetted and trained. According to the organization, UNICEF trained 20 Ebola survivors on “how to provide care and support to children going through the double trauma of losing loved ones, and who feel shunned.” In total, 50 survivors were involved in running interim care centres.
After contracting and recovering from the virus, Davies began to spend her days with the children at the care centre, feeding and playing with them. That’s because, due to risk of contagion, no one could touch these children—no one except those that had already survived and were immune to EVD.
In 2014, Davies told The Telegraph, “Many of them don’t have parents to take care of them. I know how traumatizing Ebola is because I went through it and survived. That has given me the passion to live here and work with these children.”
“I don’t want to see them go hungry because they have no mother to feed them and nobody wants to give them food,” she told UNICEF. “When they say they want to see their brothers and sisters, we cannot let them. It’s hard. That is why I work here. To help these children.”
Fortunately for these children, survivors like Decontee were able to help feed and support them. These survivors provided the human connection that the children needed, reminding them they weren’t alone and ultimately helping them heal.
Dr. Marta Lado
Image via Partners in Health
Dr. Marta Lado is an infectious disease specialist from La Coruña, Spain. In 2014, she went to Sierra Leone during the height of the Ebola outbreak to help set up and operate one of the first EVD holding/isolation units in the country alongside the Kings Sierra Leone Partnership (KSLP) team. They also helped facilitate the construction and management of another six units in the Western area of the country in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS).
These isolation units—called “Ebola Treatment Units” in official language by the CDC in order to have a more positive connotation—were designed to address the mechanism of person-to-person Ebola virus transmission, keeping those with the disease apart from others, thereby reducing contagion. There was no physical contact with uninfected persons, and healthcare workers were in high-risk PPE. These facilities offered good supportive care to patients with Ebola, including medicine and nutritious food.
Not only did Lado become a valued trainer in IPC, EVD, and PPE for viral haemorrhagic diseases, she served as a member and cofounder of the Case Management for EVD with the MoHS in Sierra Leone, as well as a clinical advisor for National and International guidelines for EVD with the World Health Organisation (WHO).
When asked by Partners In Health (PIH) how she felt about playing a prominent role in controlling the spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone, she responded, “I stayed. I showed commitment...On the whole though, I’m not proud of what happened during Ebola. Nobody had the resources to adequately treat anyone, and thousands died needlessly. Often I felt like I was only making a horrific death more dignified.”
One of her patients who recovered, Bilikisu Koroma, remembers how Dr. Lado gave her hope, telling The Telegraph, “She told me not to lose hope. She said that I should try and live to tell my story. It was really her who gave me back my life.”
To this day, Dr. Lado continues to work in Sierra Leone as chief medical officer for PIH and collaborates with the Ministry of Health to rebuild and sustain Sierra Leone’s public health system. She also takes brief leaves when new outbreaks occur, most recently helping the World Health Organization fight the disease along the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019.
“A duty has always been instilled in me to help others if I can. In my view, no one deserves what they’re born with, it should be shared wherever possible.”
Amie Subah
Image via World Bank Photo Collection on Flickr
Amie Subah was another Ebola survivor who returned to the front lines after recovering from the illness. Amie was working as a midwife at MASCO Health Centre in the New Hope Community, eastern Monrovia, when she contracted the illness while helping deliver the baby of an infected woman.
The mother and child died, along with five of her colleagues in the treatment room.
After recognizing the symptoms in herself, she kept away from her family and went to the MSF unit, the same unit she would later work in as a psychosocial-support nurse after recovering from the illness. “I don’t want my children to worry, so when I come here I just tell them I’m going out and leave them with my husband,” she told The Telegraph, “I want to stay here until Ebola is finished in my country and then go back to work as a midwife.”
Because they didn’t have to wear full PPE to enter the wards (though they wore rubber boots, surgical gowns, masks and gloves sealed with tape), survivors could work inside the units for three hours or more, compared with the mere hour other staff could handle before the heat in the PPE became too intense.
Amie provided psychosocial support to those still suffering from the virus, as well as helped them prepare for and combat stigma that could follow them after recovery.
“I returned home, but no one would welcome me back into the community. Neighbors barred my children from fetching water from their wells. In the market, sellers refused to serve me. Commercial bike riders and taxi cabs refused to pick me up,” she wrote in a post for Doctors Without Borders. “I was so desperate, I came really close to killing myself. But I survived. I am a survivor after all.”
Two and a half years later, the outbreak ended with 28,616 cases of EVD and 11,310 deaths reported in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and an additional 36 cases and 15 deaths outside of these countries.
These numbers would have likely been much higher had these women not fought disease, stigma, and an ill-prepared health care system in order to treat patients, inform their communities, and provide comfort for those in isolation. Their willingness and the willingness of those who stood alongside them created an army of volunteers fighting against Ebola. An army that fought, and ultimately won.