(ANS - Rome)- Yesterday, 21 October, at the Generalate of the Camillians, there was a roundtable conference entitled "Brothers of Ebola -  listening to the communities most affected." The event was attended by representatives of various religious institutions, voluntary organizations and international groups, including the Salesians of Don Bosco and the DON BOSCO IN THE WORLD Foundation, and VIS (the International Voluntary Service for Development).

Marcella Orsini

The conference was chaired by Mark Iazzolino, a Camillian co-worker for the missions, and Moira Monacelli from Italian Caritas.  The aim was to enable national and international organizations to come together to address the medical and humanitarian emergency caused by Ebola. The virus has now affected about 9,000 people and killed about 4,000. The consequences of the epidemic do not stop at thousands of deaths. It has also had an impact on access to health care for ordinary diseases, food safety,  increased economic instability and social disintegration.

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are the most affected countries. They are also among the countries with the lowest Human Development Index. Many in these countries are dying from malaria or due to difficulties in childbirth because of the closure of hospitals and the psychosis generated by the presence of Ebola. People are also dying of hunger due to lack of food and higher food prices. People are dying for lack of information about the transmission of the virus and hygiene practices that could prevent it. More die of injustice due to lack of institutional support for local governments that are structurally weak.  Increasing numbers of children are orphaned.  Many are turned away and abandoned by their families.

Speaking by telephone, Bishop Emmanuel Felemou of Kankan in Guinea gave an outline of the situation stressing the need for religious authorities to make a greater commitment to prevention and the task of restoring hope to the people.

There were contributions from the associations who had organized the event:

• Father Natalio Paganelli, Camillian, Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Makeni in Sierra Leone, told about the work of a group from a small local hospital that is entrusted to his administration.

• Father Maurizio Boa, Josephite of Murialdo, from Freetown in Sierra Leone, spoke of the emergency situation of the people living in his area, where quarantine makes it impossible to bring food and care.

• Brother Michael Koroma, of the Hospitaller Brothers from Lunsar in Sierra Leone, confirmed the presence of a real humanitarian emergency in his area. They lack the technical equipment for initial screening. There is an increase in child malnutrition and in the number of deaths during childbirth and deaths from other tropical diseases.

• Monsignor Robert Vitillo, Geneva, Caritas International Delegate for Health and HIV, focussed on the need for prevention with a view to reopening the religious and civil hospitals, supporting, but not replacing local governments.

• Finally, Brother Marco Fabello, of the Hospitaller Brothers posed a challenging question: Why is it only now that the world is taking notice of Ebola?

Published 22/10/2014