While there are many people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone with Ebola, there are far more people without Ebola. Whether never infected at all or previously infected and recovered, these people are at no risk for spreading the disease. Nevertheless, the Ebola stigma itself is spreading quickly. Inside the affected countries, survivors are the most likely to face the stigma, though children of Ebola-stricken parents also face their own hurdles for acceptance; these hurdles can lead to death in children as they are left without caregivers and sometimes denied access to food and water from the greater community. Abroad, people from the affected countries are seeing a different stigma. As people grow more concerned about Ebola and its possible spread, those from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone are increasingly being stigmatized without rational basis.
Within Africa, citizens from the affected countries are treated with fear and suspicion. Recently the Sierra Leone soccer team, the Leone Stars, was greeted by alarmed guests and the police after checking into a hotel in Cameroon.[1] They were made to transfer to a newly built hotel where they were the only guests after Cameroonian soccer and health officials made the suggestion.[2] Even though none of the players has been in Sierra Leone since July, many “21-day fever watches” ago, they have temperature screenings twice a day and some are detained by immigration authorities when flying into other African nations.[3] One player took a four-hour bus ride rather than submit to another Ebola screening going into Cameroon, showing the frustration felt by the constant unnecessary screenings along with the futility of airport screenings while the borders remain porous.[4] The crowd chanted “Ebola” at the team as they took the field, and again later in the game.[5] This is an improvement over their treatment in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they were subjected to the jeers throughout the match.[6]
The stigma affects more than just soccer players. Outside of Africa, Amara Bangura, a radio presenter from Sierra Leone, was denied accommodation from two different landlords after they saw his passport.[7] He had arrived in Norwich, UK, to study at the University of East Anglia.[8] A refusal letter from one of landlords reportedly said, “. . . given that the world is about to probably experience an Ebola epidemic, we have decided not to accept anyone that has been anywhere near the outbreak within the last two months, or that is likely to visit those areas in the future.”[9] Bangura eventually found somewhere to stay, and a senior officer at the University’s student union said that the landlord’s actions were “absolutely disgusting” and that “there is no way we should be discriminating against any students.”[10] That the student showed no signs of disease and was rejected simply for being from Sierra Leone is concerning; people from West Africa are in many areas of the world, especially the UK and US.
In Northampton, Pennsylvania, two high school soccer coaches resigned after their players taunted a 16 year old opponent from Guinea.[11] In Mississippi, hundreds of parents took their children out of an elementary school after discovering that the principal had just returned from a trip to Zambia, an African country 2000 miles from the outbreak.[12] A teacher in Massachusetts was forbidden from returning to school after attending an education conference in Dallas, although she did not have contact with anyone with Ebola.[13] School officials ordered that the teacher be quarantined for 21 days.[14] Navarro College, a Texas community college, has rejected applications from Ebola-affected countries, including Nigeria.[15] Nigeria saw its last case over 42 days ago and the WHO has declared the nation Ebola-free.[16] Dewayne Gragg, the college’s vice president for access and accountability, said “. . . we believe that at this time, this is the right and responsible action to take for the safety of our students and community.”[17] This policy, adhered to despite its irrational basis, treats everyone from affected countries as if they had Ebola.
The most prominent awareness campaign is probably “I am Liberian, not a virus,” started by Shoana Soloman, a photographer and TV presenter. The Twitter tag #IAmALiberianNotAVirus has been adopted by many people to help the campaign grow. In her YouTube video, Soloman says, “We are Liberians, Sierra Leoneans, Guineans, and Nigerians. We live in a region that has been devastated by a deadly disease, but we’re not all infected. It is wrong to stereotype and stigmatize an entire people. Remember, we are human beings.”[18]
The discrimination doesn’t come only from ignorance or a lack of compassion. Emily Harr, from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, says that she felt discomfort on a recent grocery trip as an African man handed her an empty cart to use. She said she quickly put it out of her mind and realized her worry was misplaced, but still found herself wondering if he had washed his hands. Harr has a degree in cross-cultural studies and spent time working with Christian missionaries in Guinea a few years ago. While her knowledge of the disease is current and she has a great deal of compassion for those suffering both from the disease and from the resultant discrimination, the furor the media has drummed up resonates in even the kindest of people as they have to consciously put the fear out of their minds.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, has expressed alarm over anti-African prejudices, and warned against ill-conceived quarantine enforcements and discriminatory travel restrictions.[19] He said that “if imposed and enforced injudiciously, quarantine can very easily not only violate a wide range of human rights, but in so doing accelerate the spread of diseases like Ebola.”[20] Quarantines can be counter-productive, especially if issued for alarmist reasons, as it “drives people who need treatment into hiding, which reduces their chances of recovery and exposes others to risk.”[21]
The discriminatory actions against those who have had contact with Ebola is of particular concern with Ebola orphans.[22] With AIDS and the Liberian and Sierra Leonean civil wars, orphans were able to stay with extended family members, but now they are often turned away and forced to beg or scavenge for food.[23][24] These young people, who either didn’t contract Ebola from their families or who have since recovered, often face this rejection after dealing with severe loss: Jeremra Cooper, 16, lost six family members.[25] UNICEF education head Mgbechikwere Ezirim says 108,000 children in Sierra Leone have missed their secondary school exams.[26] “Children are already traumatized. They have seen dead bodies, buried their loved ones, seen their parents fall ill and been taken from them. They’re asked not to play together, not to touch anything, they have nothing to do. It’s confusing and traumatic for them.”[27]
Adult survivors also face problems. Midwife Ami Subah caught Ebola while delivering a baby from an Ebola-stricken mother.[28] After her recovery, she returned home but has been ostracized and unable to find work.[29] As is common with Ebola stigma, she has been denied access to water from the community well.[30] Irrational behavior keeps survivors like Subah from returning to their lives after recovering from Ebola and further upsets normal life. “When they go back to their communities, many Ebola survivors are met with an extreme degree of stigma and discrimination,” says John Moore, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who has taken two trips to West Africa to document Ebola.[31] Mohammad Bah, 39, lost his wife, mother, father, and sister to Ebola.[32] He works as a driver, but he’s been rejected by everyone after recovery.[33] Photographer Moore says that fear and misinformation remain a big problem despite awareness campaigns.[34]
Survivors, who are believed to be immune to the virus after recovery, have begun survivor support groups and also work to take in children who have been left in the void after Ebola touched them or their families. Some children are housed by survivors as they complete their 21 day quarantine period.[35] Ebola survivors have begun helping to treat those who are still ill, as they do not have to be in the PPE and can give some human comfort to those still fighting the virus.[36] Athena Viscusi, a social worker for MSF, says that survivors helping other patients may help to reduce the stigma that survivors face.[37] Hopefully with more information not only about how Ebola spreads but how the stigma hurts people and communities, the stigma will begin to fade and effort can be even more focused on the real problem: containing Ebola before it spreads further.
Sources after cut.
[1] Jeré Longman, New York Times, Sierra Leone’s Soccer Team Struggles With Stigma Over Ebola Outbreak; http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/sports/soccer/sierra-leones-soccer-team-struggles-with-stigma-over-ebola-outbreak.html
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Robert Booth, The Guardian, UK landlords refuse to house student from Sierra Leone over Ebola Fears; http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/uk-landlords-refuse-house-student-sierra-leone-ebola-fears
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Associated Press, Pennsylvania HS soccer coaches resign after players chant Ebola jokes at player from West Africa; http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/10/pennsylvania_hs_soccer_coaches_resign_after_players_chant_ebola_jokes_at_player.html
[12] Natasha Culzac, The Independent; Ebola outbreak: Hundreds of parents remove schoolchildren after principal visits Zambia; http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ebola-outbreak-hundreds-of-parents-remove-schoolchildren-after-principal-visits-zambia-9806397.html
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] Jennifer Maloney, Scott Calvert, The Wall Street Journal, For U.S. Liberians, Stigma Adds to Ebola’s Burden; http://online.wsj.com/articles/for-u-s-liberians-stigma-adds-to-ebolas-burden-1413830673
[16] WHO, Ebola Response Roadmap Situation Report, October 22; http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/137091/1/roadmapsitrep22Oct2014_eng.pdf
[17] Maloney, Calvert, For U.S. Liberians, Stigma Adds to Ebola’s Burden, supra note 15.
[18] Shoana Soloman, YouTube, I AM A LIBERIAN, NOT A VIRUS; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEs8xHgBq7g
[19] Nick Cumming-Bruce, New York Times, U.N. Rights Chief Warns Against Anti-African Discrimination Over Ebola; http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/17/world/europe/un-human-rights-chief-denounces-funding-shortage-for-his-office.html?_r=0
[20] Id.
[21] Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, Star Africa, Press Release; http://en.starafrica.com/news/united-nations-high-commissioner-for-human-rights-zeid-raad-al-hussein.html
[22] Pandemic Ebola, Ebola Orphans: Young People at Risk; http://pandemicebola.com/2014/10/17/ebola-orphans-young-survivors-at-ri/
[23] Id.
[24] Colin Freeman, The Telegraph, The orphaned survivors of Ebola in Liberia; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11125569/The-orphaned-survivors-of-Ebola-in-Liberia.html
[25] National Geographic, Photographer’s Portraits of Liberia’s Ebola Survivors Show Sorrow, Anguish – and Joy; http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/pictures/141021-ebola-survivors-pictures-photos-liberia-africa-health/#/moore-ebola-survivors-1_84860_600x450.jpg
[26] Anna Jefferys, Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), Is Freetown fighting a losing battle against Ebola?; http://www.irinnews.org/report/100722/is-freetown-fighting-a-losing-battle-against-ebola
[27] Id.
[28] Id.
[29] Id.
[30] Id.
[31] Id.
[32] Id.
[33] Id.
[34] Id.
[35] Rae Ellen Bichell, KPLU 88.5, After Losing Parents To Ebola, Orphans Face Stigma; http://www.kplu.org/post/after-losing-parents-ebola-orphans-face-stigma
[36] Makiko Kitamura, Simeon Bennett, Michelle Fay Cortez, Live Mint, Ebola survivors turn caregivers, testing their immunity; http://www.livemint.com/Politics/pH8bAlfO9Jrx0qq8o91R1L/Ebola-survivors-turn-caregivers-testing-their-immunity.html
[37] Id.
