MALI-EBOLA RADIO CAMPAIGN Mali steps up media awareness campaign to contain the spread of Ebola.

Record ID: 347233

  • Title: MALI-EBOLA RADIO CAMPAIGN Mali steps up media awareness campaign to contain the spread of Ebola.
  • Date: 18th November 2014
  • Summary: BAMAKO, MALI (RECENT) (REUTERS) MAN WORKING AT COMPUTER IN RADIO STATION SIGN OF RADIO STATION READING "STUDIO BENKAN 97.1 BAMAKO" SIGN AT CONTROL ROOM OF RADIO STATION VARIOUS AUDIO ENGINEER WORKING CONTROLS THREE PRESENTERS TALKING INTO MICROPHONES IN BAMBARA ABOUT EBOLA VARIOUS OF PRESENTERS READING FROM NEWSPAPERS PRESENTERS MAKING JOKES TO ONE ANOTHER PRESENTERS TALKI
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA73LE5B28UZ88S8LGAW7AAS0W0
  • Story Text: Mali has introduced an intensive media Ebola awareness campaign after recording a new case in the West African nation's capital Bamako, in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
    The world's worst epidemic of the hemorrhagic fever on record has killed at least 5,160 people since it erupted in March in West Africa, a region dogged by poverty and poor healthcare.
    It has ravaged Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and spurred a global watch for its spread.
    Ebola has dominated headlines on radio, television and newspapers in Mali.
    Bamako's Benkan Radio Station has dedicated a large part of its programming to inform the public about the disease.
    In a country with high illiteracy levels and where the majority of the population can only access public information through the radio, the shows have played a vital part in raising awareness.
    "The majority of the country, around 70 percent or 80 percent of the country is illiterate or semi literate. So the reason we translate the news in the press into Bambara is to better explain what is happening here in the country and abroad," said radio presenter, Modibo Sanogo, a radio presenter at Benkan radio station.
    Mali is the sixth country to have confirmed Ebola in West Africa, which is battling the world's worst epidemic of the hemorrhagic fever on record, with the worst hit coming from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
    In Mali, which shares an 800-km (500-mile) border with Guinea, a 25-year-old health worker became the country's second confirmed case of Ebola last week, although four deaths in the country have been attributed to the disease.
    The nurse died after treating a Muslim Imam from Guinea, who suffered from Ebola-like symptoms that were not recognized.
    More than 90 people were quarantined in the capital, Bamako after the nurse's death, and health workers are now seeking to trace an unknown number of contact cases.
    The death of the nurse in Mali forced a lockdown in the clinic where she had worked.
    As Ebola fears run high in Mali, the disease has also changed the way people interact and relate to each other.
    "We are in Africa. We are obliged to shake hands. In the mosque we are obliged to hold hands and say hello, hello, good day, good day. And how are we supposed to abstain from this social act? It's embarrassing," said one Bamako resident, Mamadou Kida.
    As authorities scramble to prevent the breakout turning into a major crisis, some in the capital say the increased awareness is playing a mojor role in containing the virus.
    "Since we have learned that Ebola is among us, we've had more provisions. Now there is an Ebola hotline, there is the minister who tells us to wash our hands five times a day, we try to do what we can. Now, it's really a shame. Because too many people have been affected, al we can do is ask God to save us from this epidemic," said another Bamako resident, Draman Maiga.
    President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta urged the World Health Organization (WHO) and health services in Mali and neighboring states to set up a permanent information exchange to improve awareness about public health and hygiene.
    Last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the Ebola death toll in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone had reached 5,147 out of 14,068 cases as of November 9.
    It also said there was some evidence that case incidence was no longer increasing nationally in Guinea and Liberia, but steep increases persist in Sierra Leone.
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