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Two Royal Free nurses travel to Democratic Republic of Congo to help tackle Ebola crisis

Harry Taylor

Published: 9:00 AM September 10, 2019 Updated: 2:01 PM October 14, 2020

Jess Joyce and Kirsty Metz from the Royal Free will be heading to the Democratic Republic of Congo to help tackle the Ebola outbreak in Goma, in the east of the African country. Picture: Royal Free Hospital - Credit: Archant

Two Royal Free nurses have headed off to Africa to help the efforts tackling the Ebola crisis.

Jess Joyce, a ward manager, and Kirsty Metz, a staff nurse, will be heading to Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo for six weeks.

The spell will be part of the Royal Free's education and training partnership with Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) charity.

The deployment is in response to a few cases of Ebola in the city. MSF has set up a 72-bed Ebola treatment unit.

Both nurses are taking up unpaid leave to travel to the country. They have previously done volunteer work in Calais.

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According to the World Health Organisation the Ebola epidemic in the DRC has killed more than 2,000 people since the outbreak was declared in August 2018.

Jess said: "I am approaching this with a respectable amount of nervousness but you also need to keep a level of calmness. We know that we have the privilege of working somewhere where the majority of patients get to go home and we know that where we are going that may not always be the case and we need to mentally prepare ourselves for that."