Social Service Workers Address Ebola’s Widespread Social Impacts

Sarah Dwyer — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 14:47:31 +0000

The number of confirmed cases of Ebola is quickly climbing past 6,200. On September 20, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the historic UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), underscoring how a comprehensive, multisectoral response will be ever more critical as Ebola’s far-reaching health, security, political, economic, and social impacts on West Africa become more evident.

For every person infected, many others are affected—family members lose loved ones, children lose their parents, students lose teachers, employers lose key staff, and scores of responders have witnessed extreme suffering and work in exceedingly stressful environments.

Author's name:

Amy Bess and Alex Collins

Publication Date:

September 2014

Your Voice: Frontline Health Workers Are the Unsung Heroes of Global Health Progress

Carol Bales — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 18:45:38 +0000

This post originally appeared on USAID’s FrontLines. Your Voice, a continuing FrontLines feature, offers personal observations from USAID staff and development voices. Chris Thomas is a communications adviser in the Bureau for Global Health.

With her 3-month-old son, John, lethargic, feverish and vomiting, Korto Kinne sought help in the remote Sinje resettlers camp in the northwestern corner of Liberia. Musu Kpakar, a community health worker, administers a rapid finger-stick test to see if malaria parasites are present in John’s blood.

Author's name:

Chris Thomas, guest blogger

Publication Date:

June 2014