Liberia: On International Women’s Day, we remember Ebola heroine nurse Salome Karwah

Today is the International Women’s Day, and we remember and celebrate the brave Liberian Ebola heroine nurse, Salome Karwah who died recently in Monrovia hospital after giving birth to a baby boy.

Karwah was one of the personalities who featured in the Time Magazine’s person of the year 2014 for her brave work against the Ebola virus in Liberia. The disease killed many people and devastated the economies of many West Africa countries.

When the Ebola outbreak swept across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in 2014, many people affected by the disease were left to die, and some were neglected.

But one brave, and extraordinary woman, Salome who lost her parents to Ebola, fought the stigma and put her own life on the line, helping those diagnosed with the Ebola virus. She stood with the patients during the humanitarian crisis, providing medical care to many patients and saved many lives. Salome survived Ebola in 2014, but lost nine members of her family.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), more than 11,000 people died in the Ebola outbreak, and 17,000 contracted the virus but survived.

Read: International women’s day 2017 #beboldforchange

When Salome’s parents died from Ebola, she reopened her father’s clinic to provide medical care to those who were already suffering from the disease during the outbreak.

“I can do things that other people can’t,” she said then, according to the report in Time Magazine. “If an Ebola patient is in his house, and his immediate relative cannot go to him, I can go to him. I can take [care of] him.”

Karwah’s selflessness, bravery and determination will not be forgotten.

The brave Salome Karwah at one of the Ebola surveillance centre in Monrovia. Photo: Twitter

Read: The fight to save ebola survivors

“When you’re sick with Ebola, you always have to encourage yourself: take your medication; drink enough fluids — whether it’s oral dehydration solution or water or juices — but don’t keep your system empty. Even if they bring you food and you don’t have any appetite to eat, just eat the soup.” These were encouraging words from Salome during the fight against Ebola.

Her miserable death as a result of negligence

Tragically, on 21 February 2017, Salome died from complications during childbirth, due to negligence.

She left a husband and four children including the surviving healthy baby boy, “her fourth child will grow up never remembering their mother’s face,” said Karwah’s sister, Josephine Manley.

Adolphus Mawolo, a Liberian journalist, created a GoFundMe page, to raise funds to help support Karwah’s newborn and her three other children. Just over $9,500 has been raised so far.

Salome Karwah was #BoldForChange and we celebrate her today on the International Women’s Day for her remarkable job in saving many victims of the Ebola virus.