One of the 12 people treated for Ebola virus disease in Nigeria says surviving the disease has left her traumatised and stigmatised.
Chinyere Enemuo, a geology graduate from University of Jos, is the sister of the Port Harcourt doctor who died, after contracting Ebola from treating an ECOWAS diplomat who fled surveillance in Lagos.
She got her life back after surviving the virus, but she lost job opportunities, a wedding and her peace of mind, she told an audience of experts as World Health Organisation declared Nigeria free of the virus that killed her elder brother.
She said her family members have lost jobs and faced steep stigma because their name had been associated with the virus.
She’d been planning her wedding for September 27, but plans were “disorganised” after she was confirmed positive.”
“The whole incident is not a pleasant one, it is traumatic,” she said moments after World Health Organisation declared Nigeria free of the virus.
Speaking on behalf of 11 other survivors, Chinyere said rumours, both true and untrue, “affected me negatively, both me as an individual, members of my family, the family name as a whole, because once you bear that name, everyone tends to be scared of you.”
“Some of my family members were expelled from work, some were suspended, my younger brother was given warning not to leave school to Port Harcourt at anytime or they will stop him from the school. It really affected our family.”
She told a gathering at the WHO declaration how any talk of Ebola shot down her wedding plans, for which refunds could not be guaranteed.
“All that we invested in the wedding plan was gone. We have to start all over again in another venue because I am very sure assuming the wedding held as planned, I am very sure nobody will attend just because of the kind of information that was passed on.”
“We must not allow stigmatisation of individuals, communities or countries to take root,” said Onyebuchi Chukwu in his final moments as health minister.
He symbolically had a handshake with Chinyere before putting one arm around her shoulders.
“The safest person in this audience to have a handshake with is Chinyere,” he explained.
“I may catch another strain. But even if I have the strain she suffered from, she will not get it.”
Source: Daily Trust
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