She Survived Ebola Not Childbirth In A Broken Health System: Ebola Fighter Salome Karwah

In 2014, most of the world had probably never heard of Ebola, but for many of us in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola is the nightmare that keeps recurring every few years.

Uganda has seen more than five Ebola outbreaks in my adult life. In 2000, over 200 people died of Ebola in three districts. In 2012 alone, Uganda dealt with two outbreaks. Only DRC has had more outbreaks in the world.

So when the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak hit, it was no surprise that Ugandan and many African doctors were the first to respond to the call. Way before the ‘international community’ and aid groups moved in, before the world went hysterical about the possibility of Ebola crossing oceans, Ugandan doctors like John Taban Dada and Samuel Muhumuza Mutooro were on the front lines.

The two, just like hundreds of health workers across Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, succumbed to the disease that killed 11,310 people and devastated millions.

Liberian nursing assistant Salome Karwah was one of the lucky few, but brave through and through, who cared for Ebola patients in conditions that never guaranteed she would be alive the next day. Later, Karwah was among the Ebola Fighters  named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2014.

The heartbreaking news of Karwah dying after childbirth ought to make us think of how post-Ebola recovery is going, now that shocking images of the sick and the dying are longer on our TV screens and our timelines. Karwah experienced convulsions days after surgery, but no one would touch her at the hospital because of fear of Ebola. This piece chronicles her life and selfless service, only to be let down in her hour of need.

Ebola ended but the trauma and impact on health systems continues to cost more lives, especially women. A 2015 World Bank report Healthcare Worker Mortality and the Legacy of the Ebola Epidemic warned that loss of health workers to Ebola could increase maternal deaths by 38% in Guinea, 74% in Sierra Leone and 111% in Liberia.