HEREFORD charity Concern Universal has said that the Ebola crisis its workers are witnessing in Guinea is the worst in their 20 years working in the region.

And one man who knows first hand how the virus is affecting communities in Guinea is Rob Giddings.

A programme manager with Concern Universal, Mr Giddings, has spent three years playing a key role in the ongoing development of the charity’s Guinea programme.

But in December 2013 he said there were rumours about a mystery virus in the forest region before, in March 2014, it was confirmed to be Ebola and had spread to the capital Conakry.

Since then, Mr Giddings has been helping to train local community health workers in Ebola and Ebola prevention.

Mr Giddings, who is originally from Grimsby, said the deadly virus has caused a “huge amount of fear” at community level.

Those with strong local institutions and leaders have been able to put procedures in place to stop the spread.

In other places, communities don’t even believe the virus exists.

“One family lost 20 family members but they still don’t believe it exists and simply believe they have been cursed and won’t change how they live,” he said.

The charity has issued a plea for donations in order to keep providing basic supplies, as well as educating communities about the virus.

In addition to its work fighting the disease, Concern Universal is tackling the increasing humanitarian problem of children, orphaned by Ebola, being left alone to provide for themselves as fear of infection scares off the rest of their community from helping them.

Visit concern-universal.org to find out more about their appeal or to donate to the charity.