Labeled an “unprecedented outbreak” by the World Health Organization (WHO) in early 2014, to date more than 27,000 have been infected by the Ebola virus. According to child-welfare NGO’s with operations inside the country, virtually every child in Sierra Leone has been deeply affected on many levels. “Sadly, all of our children in care have suffered because of Ebola. All of them have missed an entire year of school, and their lives have been traumatized and changed in many ways. The screams of emergency sirens every few minutes because of Ebola victims has been a constant backdrop to their lives” says Deanna Wallace, Executive Director of All As One, which has operated an orphanage in Freetown since the year 2000. According to Wallace, the mortality rate among children in Sierra Leone was one in five even before the Ebola outbreak, with at least 340,000 orphaned. “Along with this health crisis comes huge inflation and rising prices for food and supplies. This is impacting our budget and our ability to provide basic needs for the children.”
All As One (a NGO and non-profit organization with headquarters in the United States) has garnered support from a number of high-profile supporters, including actor and humanitarian Danny Glover. “I’m here to celebrate, you know, what All As One is doing, and their work…and a belief in their own ability and capacity to imagine a different world” said Glover in an interview aired on King 5 television in Seattle.
However, the crisis is larger than any charitable organization, or government, could deal with single-handedly. According to the commissioned report from WHO’s recently-convened Ebola Interim Assessment Panel,”This is a defining moment for the health of the global community.” The report also calls for strengthening of the International Health Regulations (2005), as well as pointing out the shortcomings and organizational failings of the World Health Organization itself. “The world simply cannot afford another period of inaction until the next health crisis.”
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