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STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / EBOLA PREPAREDNESS
TRT: 2:34
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 01 NOVEMBER 2018, YEI, SOUTH SUDAN
01 NOVEMBER 2018, YEI, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Wide shot, Child with epilepsy burnt
2. Tilt up, Child’s wounds
3. Tilt up, Child with bed sores
4. Wide shot, man treated from motorbike accident
5. Close up, foot wound
6. Wide Shot, Yei River State Hospital
7. Wide shot, A group of people under tree at the hospital
8. Wide shot, A group of people sitting
9. Aerial shot, Yei River State
10. Tracking shot, Yei town
11. Tracking shot, Commuters by the road
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Joice Dominic Rlazario, Doctor:
“That one also creates a very big risk of which you find this is the official entry point where maybe a checkpoint is put there or something like that, but people are using other roads like unofficial entry roads. Tracing them becomes something difficult. It’s been good enough up till now. We don’t have any cases of Ebola within Yei River State but if at all there is any case that enters it will be very challenging tracing those people who come through the porous borders.”
13. Pan left, Ebola Isolation tent
14. Zoom out, Ebola Isolation tent
15. Wide shot, Shearer with Yei medical team
16. SOUNDBITE (English) David Shearer, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan, United Nations:
“Ebola knows no boundaries. It will run right across fighting groups and just keep on going, so we have to be able to get out to those people in the opposition-held areas and be able to do the same sort of awareness and the same sort of training that we are doing in the government-held towns and around the hospitals.”
17. Wide shot, broken-down ambulance outside hospital
18. Med shot, broken-down ambulance
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Joice Dominic Rlazario, Doctor:
“As we are speaking now, if a case came, or a suspected case was identified, or we got an alert, we don’t have a vehicle where we can transport that patient from the site to the isolation facility and so forth. So, I feel these urgent things need to be happening here in the state.”
19. Various Shot, meeting with medical team
UN Special Representative in South Sudan David Shearer said “Ebola knows no boundaries” during a visit to Yei in an effort to mitigate the risks of an outbreak of the deadly virus in the area.
Yei is some 300 kilometres from the epicentre of the current outbreak in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). At the Yei hospital, measures are being taken to prepare for the possibility of the Ebola migrating into the area.
One major problem is the border between the two countries. Just three of the 15 main routes are currently being surveilled for the virus and most people, including many refugees, slip across via unofficial routes as violent conflict affects both sides of the border.
SOUNDBITE (English) Joice Dominic Rlazario, Doctor:
“That one also creates a very big risk of which you find this is the official entry point where maybe a checkpoint is put there or something like that, but people are using other roads like unofficial entry roads. Tracing them becomes something difficult. It’s been good enough up till now. We don’t have any cases of Ebola within Yei River State but if at all there is any case that enters it will be very challenging tracing those people who come through the porous borders.”
An isolation area has been established at the hospital. Surveillance is underway at the airstrip and there are house-to-house mobilization efforts to educate people about prevention. But ongoing fighting between armed groups in the area is limiting the reach of health professionals.
SOUNDBITE (English) David Shearer, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan, United Nations:
“Ebola knows no boundaries. It will run right across fighting groups and just keep on going, so we have to be able to get out to those people in the opposition-held areas and be able to do the same sort of awareness and the same sort of training that we are doing in the government-held towns and around the hospitals.”
There is also an urgent need for funding for a dedicated ambulance to respond to potential cases as the hospital’s only vehicle has broken down.
SOUNDBITE (English) Joice Dominic Rlazario, Doctor:
“As we are speaking now, if a case came, or a suspected case was identified, or we got an alert, we don’t have a vehicle where we can transport that patient from the site to the isolation facility and so forth. So, I feel these urgent things need to be happening here in the state.”
The risk of Ebola spreading has been declared as “very high” by health authorities, requiring neighbouring countries to develop and test operational readiness for a potential response. A national taskforce has been set up by the South Sudan government with the support of the World Health Organization and other UN agencies to raise public awareness and develop a contingency plan.
