Dateline: Aug 19

Tonight on Dateline, reporter Ashley Hamer travels into Sierra Leone, one of the areas most affected by Africa’s Ebola virus outbreak.

On August 8, the World Health Organisation declared an international health emergency, as the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus spread through Africa. The crisis has left experts scrambling to find a way to stop the deadly virus, while the death toll continues to climb.

Ashley enters the village of Kailahun – a 12 hour drive from the nation’s capital – where she is granted access to a makeshift Ebola treatment facility. Inside the facility she talks to victims suffering from the disease and Australian psychologist Malcolm Hugo, who is treating not only patients and survivors of Ebola but also medical staff overwhelmed by the magnitude of the virus.

She also visits the original isolation facility in Kanema – where the first victims of the Ebola outbreak were treated and speaks with colleagues of Doctor Sheik Umar Khan, who died from Ebola while leading the country’s fight against it.

Tuesday, 19 August at 9.30pm on SBS ONE