To slow down the transmission of Ebola disease and curb the spread of the Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organization issued new guidelines in burying Ebola victims.
According to the World Health Organization, Ebola victims are at their most infectious state when they die. In West Africa, traditional burial rites caused 20 percent of the new infections because most families opt for close contact with the deceased before they bury them.
In the new guidelines, the 17-page guide seek to satisfy the imperatives for safety and the cultural sensitivities of Muslims and Christians during burials. The WHO mobilized 140 teams in the three West African countries hit that can conduct safe burials.
According to reports, health experts are still trying to establish if the rates of transmission is finally slowing down and if international response is helping to do so.
Pierre Formenty, one of the organization's Ebola experts said that about half of the Ebola victims who died in Sierra Leone were buried safely. Dr. Formenty said that the increase in the number of teams conducting safe burials along with more treatment centers and medical teams in Liberia helped a lot in curbing the rate of transmission cases in Liberia.
Cremation is one way of doing safe burial according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. So far, the team completed 2,300 cremations and burials in Liberia and 909 in Sierra Leone. Red Cross is now handling all the burials of Ebola victims in Guinea.
The WHO would like to emphasize the need for a safe burial while staying sensitive to the religious and cultural traditions of the communities affected by the disease. As the agency said, 'will make a significant difference in curbing Ebola transmission.'
