The often chronically underresourced staff of Donka hospital in the capital Conakry -- like health workers across west Africa -- sacrifice everything in the battle against a deadly epidemic, often their own lives.

The World Health Organization said last week that more than 120 health workers across the region had died during the "unprecedented" outbreak which began early this year, and more than 240 had been infected.

The toll on health workers is all the more the more devastating in the three worst-hit nations -- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- where more than 1,500 people have died and where there are just one or two doctors for every 100,000 people.

In Donka hospital, a nurse who asks to be identified as "Dr Mara" underlines the problem.

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