The UN World Health Organization is expected to declare Nigeria free from Ebola on Monday, because it has been been six weeks since the last reported case of the virus.  The nation’s success is chalked up to careful planning and the heroic efforts of one doctor.

“It’s possible to control Ebola.  It’s possible to defeat Ebola.  We’ve seen it here in Nigeria,” said Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu.  “If any cases emerge in the future, it will be considered – by international standards – a separate outbreak.  If that happens, Nigeria will be ready and able to confront it exactly as we have done with this outbreak.”

When Liberian-American businessman Patrick Sawyer first brought Ebola into Nigeria on 20 July, the nation was ready.  He was quickly identified as having the virus by Doctor Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, who was infected while treating Sawyer.  This set Nigeria’s preparations into action, and the patient was quickly quarantined which prevented the virus from spreading any further.  Sawyer died on 24 July.  Adadevoh, the great-granddaughter of one of Nigeria’s founders tested positive for Ebola on 4 August and died on 19 August.

In all, Nigeria had only 20 infections and eight deaths.  It’s because Nigeria saw the epidemic unfolding in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia and prepared early.  Medecins Sans Frontieres and WHO workers trained Nigerian doctors and advised as the local teams treated the 20 Ebola patients.  The country used social media, religious and community leaders, and good old fashioned door-to-door canvassing to get the word out about Ebola and its prevention.  It avoided a panic and kept its borders open, allowing gods and aid to freely flow to where they were needed.

“Closing borders tends to reinforce panic and the notion of helplessness,” said Dr. Faisal Shuaib of Nigeria’s Ebola Emergency Operation Center.  “When you close the legal points of entry, then you potentially drive people to use illegal passages, thus compounding the problem.”

Nigeria’s healthcare system was also better than the three main countries fighting the epidemic, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.  Those situations are worsening.  Medecins San Frontieres (MSF) warned that Guinea’s capital Conakry is seeing “a massive spike in cases”.  Aid workers say the reasons are pretty evident.

“We don’t have any good hospital in Guinea, we have no infrastructure. Trust me Guinea is the worst,” said Kadiatou Diallo of the group Pottal Fii Bhantal, comparing the healthcare of the three worst-affected countries.  “One good hospital built in Guinea with solar power would go a long way.  Even if someone wants a test they have to send it elsewhere.  One good hospital will be a good start.”

Diallo knows more tragedy than anyone should.  If the name is familiar, you might be recalling the events of 1999 when her son Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times by New York City Police when he obeyed their demands to see his ID, reached for his wallet, only to have cops say they mistook it for a gun.  Bruce Springsteen documented this case of American police brutality in his song “American Skin (41 Shots)”.  Ziggy Marley and others also wrote songs about it.  Now, she’s fighting for her extended family’s and birth country’s survival.

More than 4,500 people are known dead, and officials stress the numbers are probably a lot worse because of the cases that haven’t been counted in areas that are cut-off from the big cities.