As medical personnel, UN Volunteer Nurses are among the closest to COVID-19 patients and the most credible advisors on how to combat the pandemic, alongside with doctors and other medical advisors. Eby Emile Ehounoud is a UN Volunteer Nurse from Côte d'Ivoire, and shares his experience in Mopti, Mali, fighting the virus on all fronts.
Eby Emile serves in Mopti with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) as a licensed practical nurse. His work boils down to promoting and applying preventive health policies and activities for the general populace and evaluating the quality of medical services provided to United Nations personnel.
In the specific context marked by the COVID-19 outbreak worldwide, Eby Emile has been supporting MINUSMA by providing preventive and curative activities to people in need. He facilitates awareness-raising sessions and distributes protective supplies, such as hydroalcoholic solutions and handwashing stations in the MINUSMA camps.
Eby Emile also helps ensure the timely evacuation of patients, if the need arises, to Bamako, and monitors the quarantine process for all persons who have been in contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients.
In order to prevent more incidences of COVID-19 in Mopti, people must respect the protection measures shared by the government. One of them is to observe social distancing, yet another goes against people’s habits in Mopti, advising them against sharing local tea drunk from a single glass. The first cases of COVID-19 in Mali were publicized in late March, and the country has registered an increasing number of cases to date.
UN Volunteers with MINUSMA assigned to Menaka organized a donation of handwashing kits and soap in the refugee camp mid-April, to help prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19 in densely populated areas. The donation was handed over to the regional director public health in the city. ©UNV, 2020