As panic about the spread of Ebola grips Liberia – as well as Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Nigeria – people there are increasingly associating clinicians and health-care facilities with exposure to the disease. Ensuring that they continue to seek care when they need it requires greater investment in community health workers.
NEW YORK – In Sub-Saharan Africa, any child with a fever should receive immediate medical care to prevent death from malaria or pneumonia. But, as panic about the spread of Ebola grips Liberia – as well as Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Nigeria – people there are increasingly associating clinicians and health-care facilities with exposure to the disease. Ensuring that they continue to seek care when they need it requires improvements to frontline clinics and investment in locally hired community health workers (CHWs) to reach the vulnerable in their homes.
NEW YORK – In Sub-Saharan Africa, any child with a fever should receive immediate medical care to prevent death from malaria or pneumonia. But, as panic about the spread of Ebola grips Liberia – as well as Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Nigeria – people there are increasingly associating clinicians and health-care facilities with exposure to the disease. Ensuring that they continue to seek care when they need it requires improvements to frontline clinics and investment in locally hired community health workers (CHWs) to reach the vulnerable in their homes.