Save The Children health adviser Rachael Cummings is in Sierra Leone.
More than 160 NHS staff are preparing to travel to Sierra Leone after answering calls for volunteers to help fight the Ebola disease.
They will work at a UK-funded treatment centre in the capital Freetown, which is now 80 per cent complete and due to start treating its first patients in October.
It comes after British military personnel and aid experts were drafted in following a direct request for assistance from the World Health Organisation and the Sierra Leone government.
Save The Children health adviser Rachael Cummings has been helping with the project.
Rachael Cummings, a humanitarian health adviser with the charity Save The Children in Sierra Leone, said the atmosphere in the country was "calm and subdued".
But the former nurse said people had started to change their behaviour to avoid catching the deadly virus, which has now killed 3,000 people in West Africa.
"There is no handshaking, no touching, no hugging. People are protecting themselves which is absolutely what you need to do."
She warned NHS volunteers would need to ensure they are ready for work in such a difficult environment and said: "The number one rule is to protect yourself.
"Ebola is transferred through bodily fluids so no touching, no contact. Ensure food you are eating in restaurants or hotels is prepared properly."
The new UK-funded Ebola centre will open in Sierra Leone in October.
Doctors and scientists are in a race against time to find a medical solution to the epidemic that is rapidly spiralling out of control.
The Department for International Development (DfID) has said the UK would build at least four new Ebola treatment facilities near urban centres including Port Loko, Freetown, Makeni, and Bo.