The "E" Word!

Did we ever in our wildest imagination think that the word Ebola would roll of our tongues several times a day, that it would change the course of our lives and that we would be personally affected by this terrible epidemic? It’s like we stepped into a movie but this is real and has affected us, our friends and the mission we have been called too.

It’s like things are moving in slow motion for us but a million miles an hour in the case of this particular Ebola epidemic. The Ebola virus causes viral hemorrhagic fever, which, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, refers to a group of viruses that affect multiple organ systems in the body and are often accompanied by bleeding. The virus is named after the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), where one of the first outbreaks occurred in 1976.
 
This epidemic is unprecedented and has taken on a life of its own, completely out of control. WHO states the overall fatality rate is at 70%, a rise on previous estimates.

Casualties

Reported Cases/Deaths (as of 19 October 2014[update])[2][3]         Total: 9,964 / 4,881            Liberia: 4,693 / 2,709 (as of 19 October 2014[update])[3]            Sierra Leone: 3,706 / 1,259 (as of 19 October 2014[update])[2]           Guinea: 1,540 / 904 (as of 19 October 2014[update])[2]            Nigeria: 20 / 8 (outbreak ended 20 October 2014)[4]            United States: 3 / 1 (as of 19 October 2014[update])[2]           Senegal: 1 / 0 (outbreak ended 17 October 2014)[5]            Spain: 1 / 0 (as of 19 October 2014[update])[2] See notes for 19 October on Timeline Section

Reported case/deaths as of 19th October 2014 (WHO)

This is not just a health crisis but an economic and social catastrophe of gigantic proportions. Day to day life has ground to a standstill. It will take years for the countries affected to recover. Children have been orphaned and whole families decimated. Countries with an already fragile health care system find themselves with dozens of health care workers short, who have succumbed to the Ebola virus. It is estimated that 10% of Ebola victims are health care workers.

The level of desperation, that we have personally witnessed in such a tangible way, in the counties affected by Ebola, has now increased tenfold. As superstition rises, hospitals close and governments struggle to control the situation, a new level of desperation has emerged. Food prices have skyrocketed, schools remain closed and fear dominates daily life. It is a decimating force in nations with an already perilous infrastructure. Experts at the World Health Organization have declared the Ebola epidemic ravaging West Africa “an international health emergency”.

 

Situation Map of Ebola outbreak December 2013-Present

 

What does this mean for us? I know so many of you have been concerned about our health and safety. The rapid progression of this deadly virus has caused Mercy Ships to change our field service location twice; first from Conakry, Guinea where this current epidemic of Ebola first began, to Cotonou, Benin. But due to Benin’s very close proximity to the Ebola affected Nigerian capital, Lagos, Benin rapidly became less and less of an option for the Africa Mercy for this season. Borders in many African nations are porous and are often more defined by people groups and tribes rather than lines on a map. Traffic between many capital cities and ports is high and transmission of disease is possible, if not probable.

Very soon we will arrive in the East African port of Tamatave (Toamasina) Madagascar, far, far away from where this disease is raging its deadly path. It has been so difficult to tear our hearts away form the nations we have loved, lived in and served for the past three and a half years. The images that scream out to us, daily, from the news and the internet break our hearts; the ambulance driver who had to return a teenage girl back to her home due to an overcrowded hospital. She died the next day. That same ambulance driver has been ostracized from his family. The little girl who became an orphan a matter of days. The American Missionary who was the first foreigner to contract the disease, facing criticism from his own people for being flown back to his home country for treatment. Even our West African crew who cry for their families and that they are not able to go back to see them for fear jeopardizing their own health and their return to the ship. We watch them scrambling to contact their families and to send money to help provide food.

The situation is dire and if not brought under control the CDC admits that over 1.4 million people could be affected. “If the world doesn't get the Ebola outbreak in West Africa under control quickly, the disease could become a permanent fixture in the region, spreading as routinely as malaria or the flu”, the World Health Organization warned Tuesday in a new report.

As a specialty surgical hospital with multi-person wards, The Africa Mercy is not equipped to deal with such a contagious disease. As a high profile hospital ship that provides free medical services to the poor, the Africa Mercy  draws patients from long distances to the capital and port cities for treatment which can be counter-productive in an epidemic situation where the population needs to be localized. This means that instead of helping people, we could actually be responsible for spreading the outbreak.

Mercy Ships has helped develop local health care delivery systems and infrastructure in the nations impacted by the EBV, where we have served many times over 23 years. This has included the building of hospital waste incineration capacity as well as infection control training in the affected regions, an important element in the present response in the region currently affected by Ebola.

How do we feel about it all? Confused, sad, out of control….. That’s being downright honest, actually. But we do rest knowing that the leadership of Mercy Ships places very high value of the safety of the crew and we trust their decisions. Our hearts strings remained tied to West Africa and we anxiously await our return if or when the current Ebola epidemic subsides.

Above all we know that whilst we struggle with the very human emotion of wanting to be in control of our destiny, we know that there is someone who knows the big picture and is way ahead of us. We know who goes before us and he is mightier than a disease called Ebola. We trust that God has placed us here for this time, for this season and that a little port called Tamatave, with a population of just over 200,000, is exactly what God had in mind for us all along. Greater things are yet to come!