--- title: Attention, World: The Ebola Fight Isn’t Over description: Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières international president Dr. Joanne Liu reminds the world that the fight against Ebola is not over canonical: https://time.com/3994353/ebola-epidemic-msf/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-12T17:37:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:00.595Z article:section: Health og:title: Attention, World: The Ebola Fight Isn’t Over og:description: The head of MSF sounds off og:url: https://time.com/3994353/ebola-epidemic-msf/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbe9030e8b9d77d8/69885f098e0601e3ca461d6c/dr-joanne-liu-msf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Dr. Joanne Liu MSF og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Attention, World: The Ebola Fight Isn’t Over twitter:description: The head of MSF sounds off twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbe9030e8b9d77d8/69885f098e0601e3ca461d6c/dr-joanne-liu-msf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Attention, World: The Ebola Fight Isn’t Over > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Ebola Fighters in West Africa - TIME's Person of the Year 2014 [Watch (HLS stream): Ebola Fighters in West Africa - TIME's Person of the Year 2014](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/laroqNbt.m3u8) (10:47)  _Published 2014-12-10. Hundreds of doctors, nurses and health workers work every day to treat and contain the outbreak in the hot zone_ by [Dr. Joanne Liu](https://time.com/author/dr-joanne-liu/) ## Dr. Joanne Liu Aug 12, 2015 5:37 PM UTC  Natacha Buhler—MSF by [Dr. Joanne Liu](https://time.com/author/dr-joanne-liu/) ## Dr. Joanne Liu Aug 12, 2015 5:37 PM UTC The race to contain the largest Ebola epidemic in history has been a marathon, not a sprint. One year ago I arrived in West Africa and found the virus tearing through the region. It was destroying families and ripping apart the very fabric of society, while national authorities and a handful of aid organisations desperately struggled against this unrelenting, invisible foe. Returning to Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone three months later, hundreds of people were still falling sick each week. It was impossible to identify how they had become infected, or to work out who they had been in contact with and might themselves have infected. But international support had finally begun rolling in, whilst preparations for starting clinical trials of experimental treatments and vaccines were underway. Last week I returned to the region, and am relieved to see just how far we have come. Although we still have some way to go, today we collectively have the means to bring the epidemic to an end. For months there have been 20-30 new cases of Ebola each week. Last week there were just three. New chains of infection are now more quickly and efficiently investigated and we can track the virus’ spread in communities. The national authorities are demonstrating strong leadership and maintaining the momentum to end the outbreak. Although we all crave a sign that the end is in sight, the only reliable forecast in this epidemic has been its unpredictability. It has waxed and it has waned; often, just as it seems to have been extinguished in an area, one missed sick person or one unsafe burial has caused it to flare up again. But in the most encouraging signal so far, the interim results of an Ebola vaccine trial in Guinea were published ten days ago– and were very promising. While the VSV vaccine alone will not bring the outbreak to an end, we hope it will be an additional tool to help finally stop the virus in its tracks. Although we feel more hopeful than ever before, we are scared to let down our guard for even an instant. The goal is to get to zero patients for 42 days – twice the incubation period of the virus – after which a country or region can be declared Ebola-free. To cross that finish line, perseverance – if not sheer stubbornness – is needed, continuing to thoroughly trace every person in contact with an Ebola patient, to identify and respond to new cases early, and to make sure that burials are carried out safely. The ultimate key to success lies in gaining the trust and confidence of local people. Our health promotion team in Forécariah, Guinea, told me how, since Ebola flared up again this summer, they go from house to house every day to explain to each family how the virus is transmitted, what the symptoms are, what to do if someone falls sick and how to care for them safely. The stories they hear from some villagers may sound surprising this far into the epidemic: scepticism that Ebola is real, rumours that the disease is spread by foreigners in spacesuits, or that it can be cured with traditional medicine. But taking the time to listen and respond on a personal level has been proven to work. The truth is that the impact of Ebola will be far more long-lasting than we could have imagined. The health systems of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, already weak before the outbreak, lie in tatters. Hundreds of health workers are tragically dead. Meanwhile Ebola survivors need our continued support. Beating the virus has turned out to be their first hurdle, followed by medical complications we don’t yet fully understand, all while coping with stigma from their communities. Four out of ten people in Sierra Leone know someone who has died, been quarantined or survived the virus. These nations are grieving, yet continue to show tremendous courage and determination. Ebola may have faded from the headlines, but it hasn’t gone away. We don’t know how far away the finish line is, but we do know that to reach it, everyone involved in the response – both national and international – needs to channel all their energies into keeping up the momentum. And by accelerating use of the new vaccine in the affected countries, we can help break chains of transmission and protect frontline workers. Our teams were there at the beginning. And like long-distance runners, we will stay to the end. _Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)_ ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] I have spent five weeks in Liberia over the past three months [ NOISE ] reporting on an outbreak of Ebola that, in the words of one Liberian doctor I met, threatened to erase his country from the map of Africa. Guys, look out. Ebola is a devastating disease [ NOISE ] and the reporting was both heart wrenching and horrifying. Have you touched him? Don't touch him. But for every time I wrote about rising death tolls, I met extraordinary men and women who risked everything from disease to distrust and even death, to stop Ebola from taking more lives. Ebola is very scary. You have to have courage. [ MUSIC ] One of the heights of Ebola. There was nowhere for anyone to go. There's dead bodies on the ground. [ MUSIC ] These are their stories. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ NOISE ] Being a doctor in Liberia is just sacrificial from beginning to end. You're not making anything. It's almost like a volunteer job. That's not [ UNKNOWN ]. [ NOISE ] [ MUSIC ] My first experience as an Ebola patient the lab technician walked in with a spacesuit and I mean, he was taking every precaution not to touch and not to get infected himself. I could see the fear in his eyes. Eyes. [ MUSIC ] When the test results came back that evening and I was told that I was Ebola positive, something strange happened. I relaxed, okay, because I was happy it was not malaria. [ MUSIC ] Luckily we got. A place at Elwa Treatment Center, where they found a spot. Sadly, somebody had just passed and I was going to take their spot. Interestingly, they put me into a room where I had the guy who we assume I got the infection from. Lying right, right next to me. [ MUSIC ] At one time I was hiccupping with every breath, so they thought I, I, I wasn't gonna make it. And they were even discussing whether I would be cremated or buried. [ NOISE ] [ MUSIC ] I'm thankful to just be alive, because with such a close call, I consider myself like somebody who has come back from the dead. [ APPLAUSE ] [ NOISE [ My name is Katie Meyler and I'm the founder of More Than Me. [ MUSIC ] I wasn't really afraid for our girls or for More Than Me because it was in Lofa County, it was far away. And who is Esther? Where's Esther? [ MUSIC ] Eventually, it hit JFK Hospital, which is one of the main hospitals here in the capital, and that's when people started to get afraid. Everyone's thinking, if this thing gets to West Point, the country's in trouble, because it's the most densely populated area in West Africa. [ MUSIC ] So we got this ambulance specifically for West Point. And we pull up to Redemption Hospital and there pulling dead bodies out of Redemption. Doesn't seem like people are moving fast enough and like everyone has accepted. It feels like their families have accepted their death. [ MUSIC ] In this crazy scene of death and dying and dead bodies, and screaming and crying and mourning. Is this cute little three to four year old girl with her pink party dress on just sitting on the steps of this ambulance with no symptoms of Ebola. Do you wanna doll baby? Yeah, I'll bring you one. My name Katie. Nice to meet you. I love you. Her mom died and now the girl had nowhere to go. [ MUSIC ] Guideon. Yeah? Please, please keep her safe away from harm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I [ CROSSTALK ]. This was going on all over the place. I mean, I started to see it more and more. And she was the first child I got close to. And I was like, she cannot stay at Redemption Hospital cuz if this girl, she might have Ebola, she might not. If she doesn't have it, she's definitely gonna get it and most likely she'll die because there's no help here are Redemption. [ NOISE ] So that's what this house became. It was called Housing Observation and Pediatric Evaluation for 21 days. Laugh. [ LAUGH ] Laugh [ LAUGH ] Laugh. [ LAUGH ] Laugh. [ LAUGH ] Laugh. [ LAUGH ] So that was the first child. And one of the nurses brought her here. [ FOREIGN ] But only for like extreme emergencies, where like kids literally would be homeless. Laugh. [ LAUGH ] My name is Foday Galla. I happen to be the supervisor of the district number 13 ambulances. [ MUSIC ] And I believe it was my calling so once I'm called to do this, I always love to help people. [ MUSIC ] You have to have passion. You have to have feelings. You have to have care. [ MUSIC ] I actually got sick trying to help a family of eight. [ MUSIC ] That I really tried to help, but seven of them had to lose their life to the Ebola virus. [ NOISE ] [ UNKNOWN ] The worst part was that people that I moved in with in the ETU, they died. They died right before my eyes. [ NOISE ] So I feel good picking up people and driving them to the centers and seeing them coming out. So this is why, this is the reason why. Why I really love to help to take people to the center, have them treated, and have them come home to their families. [ MUSIC ] Hello. What I went through in life, some of those things have had impact on. Dr. Brown. My desire to help, to relieve people out of their suffering. There is a family of nine, nine. I think there were about 14 that got infected. And out of the 14, we have. Nine survivors. There are a lot of things I've really learned from this outbreak. One of which is being able to look around yourself and see what you can use that's available. To find a remedy to the situation. Than just sitting and waiting for a remedy from outside. What's in your power, how you can make use of what's available. [ MUSIC ] My name's Ella Watson- Stryker. I'm working with MSF as a health promoter, that means that my job is primarily focused on making sure that people have the information they need about Ebola. When you have countries where there is no functioning disease surveillance system, it means that a virus can circulate for months in a rural area without anyone noticing. Wasn't until a doctor was infected and died that someone started to say, wait a minute, this is not normal, we need to investigate. [ MUSIC ] This is something that we allow to happen. It will continue in this way until better systems are put in place. And if anything comes out of this outbreak, I hope, it's that we learn how to be better at looking for, at health status in rural and urban communities, both. In areas where people don't have good access to healthcare. [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] When. [ MUSIC ] We started having survivors here at the unit. Then people started coming to the E. T. U. in large numbers. What is your total number of releases? I know you are in one of those units that have released more people. Total number of releases. I know we have more than [ MUSIC ] I'm doing it because if I wasn't here on the ground, doing my job, I would be in the US reading newspapers and saying someone needs to be doing something. I thought my whole life I had nothing. And here are people who don't have drinking water or a hospital in their villages. And I wanted to help, you know? And regardless of your religion, I think that like, I know for sure like even if I died during Ebola, at least I lived for something I believed in. Can you smile? [ LAUGH ] Somebody has to. To do the job. I'm looking at it like we're fighting a war. And we all have to play our part, and I just feel that it's a duty, that I have to go back. Okay, until we can get rid of it entirely. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ]. [ FOREIGN ]. [ FOREIGN ]. [ FOREIGN ]. 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