Liberia Is Stiffing Its Contact Tracers as Ebola Epidemic Continues

Some 600 angry Ebola workers surrounded Liberia’s Ministry of Health Monday demanding back pay dating from early September. The ministry employees who track down anyone who may have come into contact with an Ebola victim — a critical process called contact tracing — have never received a dime.

Of the several thousand contact tracers who had been told that they would, at last, be paid, 600 converged on the ministry on Monday morning, but no paymaster could be found. A single paymaster appeared — at 3 p.m. — and departed two hours later, having processed salary payments for fewer than 50 people.