Social stigma compounds desperate poverty of Guinea's Ebola survivors

With dusk descending, Fanta Condé and Mariam Touré arrive in the village of Fermessadou, in southern Guinea.

They are greeted by about 50 people, including the village chief, and presented with gifts of kola nuts, bananas and papayas in thanks for the work they did for the community during the Ebola crisis.

Condé is the secretary general of Cofrasad, a co-operative of 45 women’s groups working in agricultural production, while Touré runs another women’s co-operative, Badembere.

When Ebola spread in the forest region, Condé, Touré and their colleagues went out into communities to provide people with hygiene supplies funded by a grant from theAfrican Women’s Development Fund.

“We are very grateful for all that you have done for us,” says the chief. “But things are not yet back to how they were before.”

Many left during the Ebola crisis, deeming the village – which lies about nine miles from Kissidougou town – uncomfortably close to the epicentre of the virus outbreak. Two years later, some are still to return.

“Even we were scared to come here at first,” says Touré, out of earshot of the community.

Local women’s groups played a crucial part in supporting people in the region during the outbreak. From the markets to the mosques, from morning to evening, the groups went door to door and spoke on the radio, passing on information about Ebola and distributing handwashing kits.

“There are still many problems,” says Condé. “Three of our members were victims.”

A major problem for the groups is providing ongoing support to women who contracted Ebola, or to women who looked after people who were infected.

see more at: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/apr/08/guinea-ebola-survivors-social-stigma-compounds-desperate-poverty