Guéckédou Explained

Guéckédou
Settlement Type:Sub-prefecture and town
Pushpin Map:Guinea
Pushpin Mapsize:300
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Guinea
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Guinea
Subdivision Name1:Nzérékoré Region
Subdivision Type2:Prefecture
Subdivision Name2:Guéckédou Prefecture
Unit Pref:Imperial
Population As Of:2008
Population Total:221,715
Population Blank1 Title:Ethnicities
Population Blank2 Title:Religions
Coordinates:8.5667°N -18°W

Guéckédou or Guékédou is a town in southern Guinea near the Sierra Leone and Liberian borders. It had a population of 79,140 (as of the 1996 census) but has grown in the 21st century due to refugees fleeing the Second Liberian Civil War and the Sierra Leone Civil War.The city is renowned for its large weekly market, which attracts traders from across Southern Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.

On February 12, 2007, the town's police station was ransacked amidst the resumption of protests and strikes against President Lansana Conté.

In 2014, volunteers organized by Guéckédou's Red Cross worked in sanitation, disinfection, and monitoring efforts to help contain the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak.[1] Some reported they were "encountering resistance in some villages such as Bafassa, Wassaya and Tolebengo in Guéckédou Prefecture, where rumours help fuel the flames of fear ... A main focus of the interventions involves deploying volunteers to communities to raise awareness on how to prevent the spread of the disease and, in the process, address the fear and stigma gripping many communities."[2] The World Health Organization estimated cumulative totals of 227 cases and 173 deaths occurred in Guéckédou as of June 22, 2014.[3] 11 patients were in Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Treatment Centres in Guéckédou as of that date, and 527 contacts were being followed up on as part of a mandatory 21-day observation period.[3]

Hospitals

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Smallman-Raynor . Matthew R. . A Geography of Infection: Spatial Processes and Patterns in Epidemics and Pandemics . Cliff . Andrew D. . Ord . J. Keith . Haggett . Peter . 2022-02-10 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-266451-8 . 88 . en.
  2. Web site: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies. "I was so scared to die." Living with the fear of Ebola in West Africa - Guinea. ReliefWeb. 2014-06-11. 2014-06-11.
  3. Ebola virus disease, West Africa – update. https://web.archive.org/web/20140625185326/http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_06_22_ebola/en/. dead. June 25, 2014. Disease Outbreak News. World Health Organization. 22 June 2014.