CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) – French President Francois Hollande has arrived in Guinea, becoming the first Western leader to visit a country hit hard by Ebola.
In a sign welcoming Hollande, a banner near the airport touted France’s and Guinea’s long friendship. Hollande will take stock of a medical response hampered by poor coordination, cheer on heavily-burdened aid providers and help demystify fears about the highly stigmatizing virus.
Nearly a year since the first patient died in a remote southeastern village of Guinea, at least 25 villages in the country’s forested and mountainous southeast still are refusing to allow entry by health workers who are trying to trace potential cases, according to human rights groups at a seminar this week on the response to Ebola.
More than 1,200 people in Guinea have died from Ebola.