Today, the World Health Organizations announced the official end of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. What better way to celebrate than take to take a look back at the powerful stories that brought the tales of the challenges and heroics from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia to global citizens everywhere.
First up, a video that celebrated the end of Ebola in Sierra Leone. The dancing and joy can be seen firsthand in the header above.
1) Bye Bye Ebola: the happiest music video of the year
This video captures the pure joy on the ground in West Africa, that is being felt today in Liberia, the hardest hit and last country to have cases of Ebola.
2) What the ebola virus taught us
Lessons that will echo through the region and hopefully throughout the world so that humanity is better prepared for the next epidemic.
3) WATCH: Better health for Sierra Leone starts with a single clinic
A powerful (and short!) documentary about one woman’s journey to found a health clinic in the region.
4) Did a palm oil company exploit Ebola to grab land?
One of the least discussed aspects of the Ebola crisis was the economic impact. This story dives deep into some shady land deals that seemed to exploit the crisis for profit.
5) Meet the woman who survived Ebola and joined a burial team
The story of a survivor who stayed, learned and became a hero in the crisis. It came from our partners at World Vision and is definitely worth the read.
6) As Liberia becomes Ebola free, measles resurfaces
Alongside economic impacts of the epidemic, other health problems flourished during this crisis as health workers were overwhelmed with the need to combat Ebola.
7) In Sierra Leone: "Then Ebola hit."
A first person account of a visit to Sierra Leone by one of Global Poverty Projects staffers, Taylor Light. Notably, Taylor was instrumental in coordinating coverage of the Ebola Crisis for Global Citizen, including coordinating with many partners on the ground. His account of his visit is a #MustRead.
8) More Than Me: Teaching to Saving Lives
Heroes took all shapes and sizes and roles during the crisis. This story tells how a young woman’s efforts to create educational opportunities in Liberia transitioned during the crisis to provide crucial support to health workers during the Ebola crisis.
9) Nearing ebola's end, stigma has become another disease to beat
Waterside Market in Monrovia, Liberia during quarantine.
From our partners at Ebola Deeply, this topic is just as important today as it was when the piece was first published. Stigma after an epidemic is a social scare that must be healed for the region to move forward.
10) The five real causes of the Ebola outbreak
Doctors and nurses in protective suits practice providing care to Ebola patients
Important if you want to truly understand the sources of this epidemic.
11) 16 Organizations that are working to end Ebola in West Africa
This list is NOT comprehensive but it is fascinating. Written in the first year of the epidemic, it gives insight into many of the smaller organizations that were working on the ground to save lives.
12) The difference between UK and US coverage of Ebola
Ending this list on a bit of a lighter note, read this article to take a look back at the hilariously different ways the Ebola outbreak was being covered in US and UK media. Seriously, the US media definitely needed to learn a bit from their British peers.
These stories helped bring the Ebola crisis into focus for people around the world. The fear and terror felt in West Africa and around the world during the Ebola crisis should not fade too quickly into memory. Instead, that fear should inspire the world to build the region back stronger to deal with future epidemics. And the entire world should take up the task of building global health infrastructure that can quickly and decisively respond to threats like Ebola that truly put everyone at risk.