TODAY, The Gazette publishes the latest moving, and harrowing, report from Basingstoke nurse Natalie Mounter, who is on the frontline of the fight against Ebola in Sierra Leone. It’s a story that will hopefully reach a very wide audience.

As regular readers will know, The Gazette has been following the story of Natalie, who left her job to become a volunteer nurse in the Ebola Isolation Unit in Connaught Hospital.

It is clear from Natalie’s account that much more support is required to help those on the frontline as they battle to get to grips with this deadly disease, and seek to help those affected by it.

Natalie, who is a remarkable young woman, writes with stark honesty when she says: “The deaths here are relentless. We sometimes deal with eight or 10 corpses in a shift. Many people catch Ebola from caring for their relatives, and so it is not uncommon for us to see whole families wiped out by the disease.

“Witnessing this has made me realise that we are no longer dealing with a disease epidemic. This is a humanitarian disaster, and it has been for a while.”

The generosity of the British public is immense, and people’s support for the DEC Ebola Crisis Appeal, the Band Aid 30 campaign, and other support charities, like the King’s Sierra Leone Partnership, are making a big difference.

It is also great news that the Gannett Foundation UK, which is the charitable fund of The Gazette’s parent company, has decided to award a £20,000 grant to help Natalie and her colleagues in their efforts to help those affected by the Ebola epidemic. They certainly deserve, and need, all the support we can give them.