Ebola fighter and TIME Person of the Year dies

pulse

March 3, 2017 2:02 PM

It’s easy to think that in 2017, women don’t die during childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications anymore.

Salome Karwah

Salome Karwah was known for her determination to help other Ebola patients

It’s easy to think that in 2017, women don’t die during childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications anymore. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 830 women die from pregnancy or in childbirth every day, mostly in developing countries.

Liberian nursing assistant Salome Karwah, who survived the 2014 Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people including both her parents, her brother, aunts, uncles, one cousin, and a niece, is one of them. She died on February 21 from complications in childbirth and the stigma of being an Ebola survivor, TIME reports.

Karwah, who was named a TIME Person of the Year in 2014 for her tireless efforts to treat Ebola patients, gave birth to her fourth child, whom she named Solomon, on February 17 and was discharged from the hospital three days later.

However, within hours of arriving at home, Karwah started having convulsions. Her husband, James Harris, and sister, Josephine Manley, rushed her back to the hospital, but say that her violent seizures and foaming mouth scared the hospital staff.

“They said she was an Ebola survivor,” Manley told Time magazine. “They didn’t want contact with her fluids. They all gave her distance. No one would give her an injection.”

Karwah died the next day, leaving behind her heartbroken husband, sister, and four small children.

Manley says she doesn’t know what caused the convulsions but is convinced that if her sister hadn’t been stigmatized, she’d still be alive today.

“Salome loves her children, her James. The one-year-old, the newborn, they will grow up never remembering their mother's face,” Manley said.

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