[LINK] "Orphaned by Ebola, West African children face rejection by extended family"

[rfmcdonald]

Terrible, but unsurprising. From Al Jazeera:

Thousands of children left orphaned by the Ebola in West Africa are at risk of being abandoned by surviving relatives fearful of catching the killer disease, UNICEF warned Tuesday.

The current outbreak of the disease has taken the lives of more than 3,000 people — devastating families and resulting in an estimated 3,700 children in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone being without one or both parents, the United Nation’s Children’s Fund said. That figure is likely to double by mid-October, the agency warned.

Those orphaned face the additional trauma of rejection by surviving relatives, some of whom are frightened of contracting the infectious disease.

"Ebola is turning a basic human reaction like comforting a sick child into a potential death sentence," said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “These children urgently need special attention and support; yet many of them feel unwanted and even abandoned."