Australian Red Cross worker Amanda McClelland has for the last month been based in Sierra Leone, one of three countries along with Liberia and Guinea that has seen the highest number of deaths from the latest Ebola outbreak.
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She says although some headway has been made with the outbreak in Guinea, a number of issues are preventing authorities from overcoming what the World Health Organisation has called the worst outbreak in four decades.
"The impact of this epidemic goes far beyond the 1200 deaths that people are reporting," Ms McClelland said.
"This is really about a breakdown in whole health systems. Schools are closed, education is not happening. Communities are being devastated, with 50 percent fatality rates in some areas.
"So this is really less about the number of people who have Ebola, and who have died from Ebola and much more about the humanitarian crisis that is occurring because of the epidemic."
Extended interview with Amanda McClelland
The decision by Africa and Kenya and Zambia to impose travel bans on people coming from the hotspots has only fuelled the panic.
"We're running out of ways to get [aid workers, experts] in country, there's just not any flights flying into Sierra Leon," she said.
"At the moment there are only two companies still working, which means we can't get the people and equipment in and out.
"If we don't have an exit strategy in place then we can't maintain the level of people we need on the ground."
Risk consultancy firm IHS says economic impact of the outbreak is likely to be longlasting in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, which have a combined GDP of $13 billion.
The group says the impact will be "broad-based across all economic sectors in the three countries".
She says when compared to her experience responding to malaria epidemics, cholera epidemics and aid efforts in conflict zones, the Ebola outbreak is on a different level altogether.
With the death rate among Ebola patients between the 60 and 90 per cent range, being on the frontline has added risks for aid workers, she said.
"You wake up with a headache and your first thought is - is that Ebola or is that because I didn't drink enough water last night?
"It's your level awareness and always being on alert that is the toughest I think."
More information about the emergency appeal can be found here.
