Doctors Without Borders Evolves as It Forms the Vanguard in Ebola Fight

[cali]

When the Ebola virus began relentlessly spreading in Sierra Leone months ago, government officials made an urgent plea to Doctors Without Borders, all that appeared to stand between the country and chaos.

<snip>

The first to respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, Doctors Without Borders remains the primary international medical aid group battling the disease there. As local health systems have all but collapsed and most outside institutions, including the United States military, have yet to fulfill all their pledges of help, the charity has erected six treatment centers in West Africa, with plans for more. Its workers have treated the majority of patients, just as they have in previous Ebola outbreaks and some other epidemics in the developing world.

<snip>

The group decided long ago that it could not depend on governments and other institutions, so it built a global infrastructure that sustains a robust supply chain to the field, like that of a far-flung army.

Its state-of-the-art supply depot in Brussels, for example, has sent hundreds of thousands of masks, protective suits, large tents and medical supplies to West Africa in recent months, getting them on the ground within 24 hours. To overcome obstacles, the Brussels logistics team is innovating — developing field tents rigged so workers do not get overheated, retrofitting body bags to absorb infectious fluids and seeking fast ways to dry wet boots that must be regularly disinfected.

To minimize risks, specialists in Brussels designed treatment centers that are precisely laid out: with single entry and exit points, strict separation of high risk and low risk areas, and space for health workers in a buddy system to watch over one another while removing contaminated protective gear. When a volunteer French nurse became sick last month, they resolved to make the safeguards tougher.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/11/world/africa/doctors-without-borders-evolves-as-it-forms-the-vanguard-in-ebola-fight-.html?_r=0

Give, if you can. I donate a small amount monthly. MSF is one of the best NGOs in the world and they do heroic work.

https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/truenorth/alt/landing_page_monthly.cfm?source=AZD140001D51&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&gclid=CKK6reafpMECFQ9p7Aod3lIARA

[BlueMTexpat]

1. I have been a proud MSF supporter

for years!

Thanks for posting!

[cali]

2. thanks for posting. I shudder to think of the state of W. Africa if not for the work

of MSF. I believe it would be much more dire.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. Done. I am a DUer.

Kicking. Thank you, cali.

~ Lmsp 🙌

[cali]

4. thank you so much!

we aren't the Gates or Clintons, but we damned well can help.

[Scuba]

5. Doctors? You mean our soldiers can't do the job?

We spent all that dough on the MIC instead of medical professionals. Stupid.

[cali]

6. I part company with you on this. The U.S. military is

potentially a great help in Liberia, Sierra Leone and and Guinea. They are desperately short of health infrastructure and the U.S. military can address that in a way that MSF cannot. Our troops will be a good compliment to MSF and other organizations with medical personnel on the gound.