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Ebola Cremation Mandate Results In Secret Burials In Liberia

Ebola Cremation Mandate Results In Secret Burials In Liberia

From The Guardian

Even as Liberians fall ill and die of Ebola, many beds in treatment centres are empty because of the government’s order that the bodies of all suspected Ebola victims in the capital be cremated.

Cremation violates values and cultural practices in the western African country. The order has so disturbed people that the sick are often kept at home and, if they die, are being secretly buried, increasing the risk of more infections.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf decreed in August that the bodies of Ebola victims in the Monrovia area be cremated. The government brought in a crematorium and hired experts. The order came after people in neighborhoods of the capital resisted the burial of hundreds of Ebola victims near their homes.

A recent analysis of bed space at Ebola treatment units concluded that out of 742 spaces, only 351 were occupied, said assistant health minister Tolbert Nyenswah, who heads the government’s Ebola response.

“For fear of cremation, do not stay home to die,” Nyenswah urged Liberians at a news conference.

 

Read more at The Guardian