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UNICEF: 16,600 Ebola orphans taken in by families in West Africa
09.02.2015 08:02 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
The vast majority of children who have lost parents to the Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa have been taken in by families, UN Radio says referring to the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) report.
As to the report, now 16,600 children have been orphaned by the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three countries worst hit by the deadly virus.
Reportedly, the number of children who have lost one or two parents due to the disease has increased from about 7,000 last year to over 16,000 today.
Besides, the UNICEFs representative Andrew Brooks who has visited the three West African countries affected by Ebola says while the stigma and fear have not completely disappeared, the bonds of kinship have proven to be strong.
«The resilience of the communities and the traditional reflexes of communities and neighbours and relatives to take in the children of parents when they die, has been really strong. And in fact, when I look at the figures, of that total of 16,600 its only about 500 that we have had to provide care for in a temporary kind of a centre-based care,» Mr. Brooks admits.
Mr. Brooks adds the reopening of schools in Guinea and the planned re-opening in Liberia and Sierra Leone would help children return to some normalcy.
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