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Summary

The article talks about the tribulations that pregnant women went through during childbirth in the Ebola era in Liberia. The case addressed is one of an old couple from Suakoko goes to an Ebola treatment center to take their hemorrhaging daughter and newly born. Their daughter is pronounced dead, but the baby survives only to die because of lack of appropriate care.

What I liked about the article

The article has comprehensively detailed the problems pregnant women encounter during outbreaks not only in the case of Ebola. It is well evident that all the health centers refused to admit Diana Flomo after childbirth leading to her hemorrhaging and subsequent death. All the centers avoided coming in contact with her due to the belief that she was contagious due to body fluids.

Misleading part of the article

It was misleading for the article to insinuate that most of the contraction by the health works was while attending to births. The significant numbers of infections to the health workers were due to the close contact they had with the victims' blood and bodily fluids. Most of the initial health personnel who perished were due to the lack of protective gear and expertise response in the local hospitals (FINK).

Three things learned from the article

Though little research has been done, doctors speculate that a child can contract Ebola from the fluids in her mother's birth canal. Therefore it won't be safe to conclude that infants are safe from the virus. It was evident that most of the Ebola caring centers were not prepared for infant related cases as the doctors at International Medical Corps had no idea on how to feed baby Diana Dormeyan.

I realized that the Ebola victims had to go through a 21 day quarantine period before rejoining the masses. This re-integration into the community was not without stigma.

Work Cited

Fink, Sheri. Heart-Rending Test in Ebola Zone: A Baby. 9 October 2014. 15 August 2016