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STORY: SIERRA LEONE / EBOLA DISABILITIES
TRT: 2.28
SOURCE: UNDP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 3 NOVEMBER 2014, MAKENI, SIERRA LEONE
1. Med shot, man washing hands
2. Various shots, class at St Joseph's School for the Deaf, learning about Ebola,
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Hadiatou Diallo, Senior Program Manager, One Family People:
“We know that there are 85 disabled communities nationwide and we are targeting half of them. But with support from UNDP we intend to extend to reach out to all of them.”
4. Various shots, PLWD meeting about Ebola prevention
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Hadiatou Diallo, Senior Program Manager, One Family People:
“There’s another important group of street children that are naturally living with persons with disabilities and they are adopted by persons with disabilities and they are assisting them. In terms of movement, they push the wheelchair users, they help the visually impaired to move from one place to the other looking for assistance. And we are also targeting those children to make sure that they are also protected because if they are not protected definitely persons with disabilities are at high risk.”
6. Various shots, PLWD meeting about Ebola prevention,
7. Close up, Ebola prevention pamphlet
8. Various shots, PLWD singing and signing “Stop Ebola.”
Through its Ebola Response programming, UNDP ensures that vulnerable groups such as people living with disabilities in Sierra Leone receive tailor-made information and tools to help prevent the spread of the Ebola virus disease.
Sierra Leone has one of the highest global rates of people living with disabilities. Many of them were caught in the crossfire of a brutal civil war, which alone left 1,600 living amputees. Many others are suffering the effects of preventable diseases like polio or meningitis.
SOUNDBITE (English) Hadiatou Diallo, Senior Program Manager, One Family People:
“We know that there are 85 disabled communities nationwide and we are targeting half of them. But with support from UNDP we intend to extend to reach out to all of them.”
PLWD often live on the fringe, marginalized and ostracized by the wider community. With the onset of the Ebola virus disease, this vulnerable group has been isolated even further.
Through One Family People, a national NGO, reaching the most isolated and ostracized people is made possible. Information is power, especially during this crisis, but when no one reaches out, PLWD say they are powerless, voiceless.
SOUNDBITE (English) Hadiatou Diallo, Senior Program Manager, One Family People:
“There’s another important group of street children that are naturally living with persons with disabilities and they are adopted by persons with disabilities and they are assisting them. In terms of movement, they push the wheelchair users, they help the visually impaired to move from one place to the other looking for assistance. And we are also targeting those children to make sure that they are also protected because if they are not protected definitely persons with disabilities are at high risk.”
With the help of UNDP, these vulnerable communities are having the messages delivered right to their door and in a language they can access; braille, sign language and pictures. The added benefit of this face-to-face campaign is that it is a two-way street.
