Stationed at the centre of the crisis in west Africa, Louise Johnston spoke to The Courier from Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.

The 34-year-old former Ballarat Health Services Base Hospital nurse said thousands continued to die, however mortality rates were gradually dropping.

She is working with medical humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres to encourage patients to seek help and “break down the anxieties” of ebola treatment centres.

“The emergency is still not over. There is no healthcare system, there are no hospitals. It’s hard to imagine,” Ms Johnston said.

“The situation here is still pretty terrible. The numbers are going down, but it’s still a massive and unprecedented amount.

“Most of those that we see won’t make it. We try to encourage people to come to ebola treatment units rather than health services, to keep others safe.”

Adding to the pressures of the environment, Ms Johnston said the international community had responded too slowly.

“I’ve learnt how disappointing it is that when a massive crisis happens – MSF has been here from the start – is how long it’s taken for the international community to respond,” she said.

She said the highly contagious nature of ebola had decimated Liberia, Sierre Leone and Guinea and led to the deaths of thousands.

“It’s the largest epidemic of ebola in history. It’s gone across borders, run rampant through capital cities and brought countries to their knees,” Ms Johnston said.

“Ebola is highly contagious and can be contracted from body fluids of a sick person.

“There is a lot of problems here with burial services because they wash and clean the bodies before burying them, which contaminates others.”

Countries including Australia and the United States were at a low risk of encountering an ebola crisis thanks to exceptional healthcare services, Ms Johnston said.

“I think the fear-mongering in the media is over the top, whereas Liberia hasn’t been prepared,” she said.

Ms Johnston said the sense of “bringing calm to the chaos” attracted her to crisis situations.

She joined MSF in 2009 and has been posted to several crisis environments across the world including Syria, Haiti and Niger.

“I’ve been doing this work for the last five years and started doing remote work in Australia,” she said.

“Being on the ground and alleviating people’s problems, you always feel like you’re where you need to be.”

david.jeans@fairfaxmedia.com.au