A Liberian doctor named Melvin Korkor, who contracted Ebola virus while attending to patients in his country, but eventually recovered from it after being treated revealed that he still faces stigmatisation.
Korkor, who narrated his ordeal to FrontPage Africa, said he was only greeted from a distance upon arrival at Cuttington University campus, a private university in Suacoco, Liberia, where he teaches. He said his students were scared that he might still have the deadly virus, a situation that made people to be afraid to touch him.
One of the students, whose name was not given, said: “We want to hug our doctor, but fear we would come in contact with the virus, I will greet him from a distance. I am happy doctor Korkor has returned, but I am totally not convinced he is Ebola-free. I will shake his hands after 21 days.”Despite checking the deadly virus, local and international authorities are still battling with other measures on how to educate people both on the symptoms of Ebola and on the progress of the disease from the soap bucket challenge (a repurposed version of the ice bucket challenge, which is now trending on Twitter- hashtag #MousserContreEbola) to a hit hip-hop song aimed at educating the public on the symptoms and how the virus can spread or be halted.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization recently shared a video of three survivors who revealed that, they were issued certificates by their doctors to prove they are no longer contagious because of the stigma they were undergoing in their various communities.
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