CCOCU affiliate on a one-month Hong Kong Red Cross operation in Ebola-hit West Africa

Eliza Yee-lai Cheung , a CCOUC honorary clinical psychologist, was deployed late July 2014 as the Hong Kong Red Cross clinical psychologist to a one-month Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) mission in Liberia to provide training on psychosocial support and psychological first aid to the staff and volunteers from the Liberian government and the Liberian Red Cross and conduct psychological consultations with frontline workers. The worst-ever Ebola epidemic is sweeping across West Africa to claim more than 1000 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and threatens to spread globally via air traffic.

Ms. Cheung is a clinical psychologist trained at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and is currently a PhD candidate at the JC School of Public Health and Primary Care. She has vast experience in understanding the mental health needs, access to mental health services, as well as post-disaster psychological impact experienced by ethnic minorities in rural China through both quantitative and qualitative studies. Ms. Cheung’s PhD thesis focuses on the effectiveness of Psychological First Aid Training as a capacity building program for emergency responders in disaster.

For further details of the operation, please visit Hong Kong Red Cross website.