The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported today on the efforts of IsraAID, an NGO funded by Jewish organizations and supported by the Israeli government, to aid African countries dealing with the Ebola epidemic. IsraAID is offering counseling to those on the front lines of the Ebola outbreak.

Enter IsraAID. The lone Israeli or Jewish disaster relief organization on the ground in the Ebola zone, IsraAID is providing psychosocial counseling and training to service providers — health workers, social workers, teachers, police — dealing with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. The locals staffing Freetown’s Ebola hotline are among those receiving counseling.

“Dealing with the psychosocial trauma is critical to addressing the Ebola outbreak,” Shachar Zahavi, IsraAID’s founding director, told JTA in an interview. “A major deterrent to treatment is that people don’t trust one another. If you don’t feel well, your family immediately hides you and you then infect your entire family. We’re trying to teach police, social workers, health workers and teachers how to deal with people who are afraid of them — and how to manage their own stress and anxiety.”

Currently, IsraAID has four Israelis stationed in Sierra Leone, where six more are scheduled to arrive next week. The tour of duty is for six weeks and includes a week of training, several weeks in the field and time to make sure that the worker is healthy before returning home.

Since October, Israel has been sending medical equipment to Ebola-stricken countries. An Israeli company that makes special sterile tents, designed to keep medical workers safe, has received orders from a number of African countries for their product.

[Photo: The New York Times / YouTube ]