20 Messages for Children to Learn & Share on Ebola

These messages are still being tested and trialled. If you have any feedback or ideas that should be added, please contact us!

20 Messages on Ebola for children to learn and share:

1. Ebola is a disease that makes people very ill and sometimes die.
2. Ebola is caused by a virus you can’t see which stops a person’s body working properly.
3. The Ebola virus lives inside fluids of an infected person (like blood, spit, pee, poo and vomit).
4. There are many signs of Ebola: headache, fever, pains in the stomach and muscles, diarrhoea &  vomiting.
5. Ebola spreads when someone who is well touches the fluids of a person who has the Ebola virus.
6. Someone can have the Ebola virus in their body for three weeks before they start to feel ill.
7. It is only when a person starts to feel ill that they can spread Ebola to someone else.
8. Do not touch people who are infected or anything they have touched or used. Keep young children away from those who are sick.
9. Do not touch or eat bushmeat (wild meat like bats or monkeys) as this can have Ebola.
10. Wash your hands with soap often and always after having a pee or poo (See Message 3 in our WASH topic).
11. When someone has the signs of Ebola, a health worker is called to help to take the sick person to a clinic.
12. At the clinic, health workers take a small amount of blood from the sick person to look for signs of Ebola in the blood. This is called testing.
13. Health workers looking after people with Ebola wear special suits, masks and gloves so that they do not catch Ebola.
14. Health workers are brave, kind people trying to stop Ebola spreading to others and making them sick.
15. At the moment (October 2014), there is no medicine to cure people with Ebola, but scientists are working hard to create medicine and a vaccine.
16. When someone dies from Ebola the body has a lot of the Ebola virus, so it should be put carefully into a bag and taken for burial.
17. When someone gets well from Ebola and has been checked by a health worker and comes home they can be treated as normal.
18. Someone who has recovered from Ebola is safe to touch and is no different to anyone else.
19. If your relatives get Ebola, they need comforting words, but not to be touched or hugged.
20. Young children do not understand Ebola and not to touch people they love. Help comfort them: play and sing.

Our free resources section has a storybook – A Stone is a Strange Thing – and poster about Ebola Safe, Strong & Smiling (also in Lingala and French).

We have some relevant blog posts too:

• Ebola Aftermath
• Showing Love Without Touch
• How to Help Children learn these Messages
• Using role play to help children understand and cope with Ebola
• Using the Opportunities Chart