COVID-19 in Guinea: “I hit the road the same day” Testimony of a hygienist

“Wash your hands. Turn towards me. Turn around. Remove your smock. Throw it into the trash. Wash your hands. Remove your first pair of gloves. Throw them in the trash. Wash your hands.”

These are the words of Soullo Iffono. The 37-year-old is a hygienist for ALIMA, in charge of disinfection at the undressing station of the COVID-19 treatment center within Donka Hospital, in Conakry, Guinea.

Nurses on the frontlines: Testimonies from the field

Nurses around the world play a key role, each and every day, in delivering high-quality, life-saving medical care to patients. This is particularly true in conflict and crisis zones, where there is often a lack of access to health services and not enough doctors to cover the needs. As the world celebrates the hardwork and dedication of all nurses on this International Nurses Day, we asked some of our health workers to share their most memorable stories from the field.

Guinea: the results from the study of favipiravir for treatment against ebola prove to be nuanced

Dakar/ Paris, March 3 2016. Yesterday, the journal PLOS Medicine published “encouraging but nuanced” conclusions on the trials for the Favipiravir treatment against the Ebola virus. According to ALIMA (The Alliance for International Medical Action), although the efficacy of the treatment was not proven for Ebola cases with a high viremia, the information collected over the course of the trial remain of great interest for research and for health care systems.

Happy to be alive

Tonhon Bolamou was just 10-years-old when she contracted the Ebola virus in March 2016. After spending 13 days in the Ebola Treatment Center in N’Zerekore, in southeastern Guinea, where she was treated by ALIMA medical teams, she was discharged on April 7. Tonhon is the second-to-last survivor of the most recent flare-up of the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak. The last survivor was discharged on April 21, 2016. More than 28,000 people were infected during the outbreak. 11,323 people died.

One year after she was cured, Tonhon says her life in the village of Koropara, in southeastern Guinea’s forest region, is “back to normal.”

Three years on, Ebola survivors in Guinea still need support

N’ZEREKORE/DAKAR – Three years after the Ebola outbreak was first declared by Guinea’s Ministry of Health, many survivors continue to suffer from physical and mental health problems. The humanitarian medical organization ALIMA (The Alliance for International Medical Action) is calling on actors to support Ebola survivors and their family with medical care and psycho-social support.