Ebola in Liberia: Keeping communities safe from contaminated waste

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Mon, 2015-02-23 11:30 — mike kraft

WHO PRESS RELEASE Feb. 23, 2015

Every day, every bed in an Ebola treatment unit creates approximately 300 litres of liquid waste. Managing this waste has been a challenge in the Ebola outbreak in Liberia. WHO is working with partners to ensure this waste is effectively decontaminated and no longer poses a threat to health.

Managing the contaminated liquid waste from the Ebola Treatment Unit, Liberia. WHO/R. Sorensen

Rosy Petors lives with her two daughters, Mary and Comfort, just next door to the Island Clinic, outside the capital Monrovia. In September last year, the former clinic was transformed into one of the largest Ebola treatment units (ETU) in Liberia, housing as many as 200 patients and 3 times as many staff.

During the rainy season, water started to seep through the brick wall that surrounds the Island Clinic compound. People in the neighbourhood were very anxious about what this water might contain, even though it came from the section of the ETU which housed no patients.

"You can’t stop the water, it will always find a way," says Hassan Srour from WHO. Together with his team from the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, Srour quickly engaged the neighbours in a cash-for-work programme to construct a channel to lead the water out of the neighbourhood.

Read complete release.

http://www.who.int/features/2015/ebola-waste-management/en/

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