My collaboration with King’s Sierra Leone Partnership enabled me to meet, interview and ultimately paint many of the Sierra Leonean nurses, doctors, security personnel and screeners who continue to form the first line of defence in the fight against Ebola.
Thankfully, the epidemic is now over, but the resulting social and professional stigmatisation that many of those that I met are experiencing is a story less well known. Many lost families, friends and jobs to the perceived threat of infection. Fear of the unknown is a human reaction, and it is only through education and awareness that understanding can take its place.