Maps Save Lives

Some of the areas affected by the 2014 Ebola outbreak had never been mapped before. This made it difficult to take steps that would help stop the virus. After Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) brought a Geographic Information System (GIS) officer to Sierra Leone and began the complex process of mapping these areas, things started to change. The results were that MSF was no longer limited to chasing the disease; teams could now start trying to prevent it from spreading. The maps also helped MSF teams find sick people who were quarantined and get them access to water, food and health care.