On the Ebola frontline there is horror and happiness

I SPENT a month in Sierra Leone, at the front line of the largest Ebola outbreak in history.

I was working in the Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) 65-bed Ebola treatment centre. It has since increased capacity to 96 beds and the medical team are now receiving patients from many other hotspot areas in the country.

Patients are transported by ambulance over bumpy roads for up to eight hours to reach the centre. People are often very sick and lose their fight for life during the journey. I remember peering into the back of an ambulance which had just pulled up outside the triage tent, being careful not to get too close. A young man was lying dead in the back. He was curled up in the corner. I could guess his final moments had not been peaceful.