Meet the Irish aid worker helping battle coronavirus with GOAL in Ethiopia

Mary T Murphy, from Macroom in west Cork, worked as a staff nurse in the special care and intensive care units of Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin.
After moving to humanitarian aid and fighting Ebola in 2014, she has been the manager of GOAL's refugee programme in Ethiopia for the past six years.
Her role has seen her take charge of the organisation's large-scale emergency work, catering for thousands of South Sudanese and Eritrean refugees.
Here she tells the Irish Sunday Mirror what life in an Ethiopian refugee camp is like during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mary T Murphy at GOAL's Nutrition Site at Buramino Refugee Camp, Dollo Ado, on the Somali Ethiopian Border, where GOAL are treating moderately and severely malnourished refugees after arriving from Somali 
Ethiopia is no stranger to humanitarian crisis. In the past it has suffered acute food shortages.
The most recent crisis was a desert locust infestation in February which saw thousands of hectares of crops wiped out, leaving families already experiencing shortages with no food source.
The damage these grasshoppers can cause is extreme. Up to 150 million locusts per square kilometre make up a swarm, and with wind they can travel up to 150km in one day.
Now, Covid-19 is the latest challenge facing Ethiopia. The first case was confirmed on March 13 and last month the country declared a state of emergency to control and prevent the spread of the virus.
Of huge concern is if the virus gets a hold in the four refugee camps in which we work – Tierkadi and Kule in Gambella Region in western Ethiopia, where we support South Sudanese refugees, and Berhale and Asayita in Afar Region in the north-east, where we support Eritrean refugees.
Across the facilities more than 32,000 direct beneficiaries are enrolled in GOAL’s programmes.
These camps are in very remote areas with limited facilities. There are no hospitals but we have health posts and centres where preventative and basic curative services are provided.
Source: Irish Mirror

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