Sierra Leone News

Delivered by Dr Anders Nordström, WHO Representative in Sierra Leone

Today, 7 November 2015, the World Health Organization declares the end of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. 

Since Sierra Leone recorded the first Ebola case on 24 May 2014, a total number of 8,704 people were infected and 3,589 have died. From those who tragically lost their lives, 221 of them were healthcare workers. We remember them all today.

FIFA in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Football Association, United Nations agencies (WHO and UNICEF) on 1 November launched the ‘FIFA 11 for Health’ programme in Freetown aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles among young people. The programme was launched by a delegation of FIFA officials led by the football legend Samuel Eto’o Fils.

Freetown, 14 October 2015 - Preliminary results of a study into persistence of Ebola virus in body fluids show that some men still produce semen samples that test positive for Ebola virus nine months after onset of symptoms.

The report, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, provides the first results of a long-term study being jointly conducted by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone Ministry of Defence, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WHO is helping Sierra Leone to mobilize all its experience and partners to ensure that any new cases of Ebola are investigated and transmission of the disease stopped as rapidly as possible. Sad news that a 16-year old girl had died from Ebola in Bombali district, a part of the country that had a large outbreak 6 months ago, sparked an immediate inter-agency rapid response. Partners sent people with the skills and equipment needed to stop further infection in Bombali.

Epidemiological data

Freetown, Sierra Leone – 31 August 2015: Detection of a new case of Ebola virus disease in Kambia, Sierra Leone after the country had marked almost three weeks of zero cases has set in motion the first ‘ring vaccination’ use of the experimental Ebola vaccine in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone celebrated an important milestone on Monday, 24 August 2015. For the first time in more than a year, there are no people being treated for Ebola virus disease and no confirmed cases of Ebola in the country.

Freetown, 19 August 2015 - The UN Country Team (UNCT) in Sierra Leone is shocked by the report that an 18-year-old girl, Hannah Bockarie, was brutally raped and murdered on 13 August 2015 at Lumley Beach, Freetown.  The UNCT condemns this horrendous act in the strongest terms and it calls on the Sierra Leone Government to conduct a prompt, thorough and independent investigation into the girl’s death and to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice.

Freetown, Sierra Leone – 17 August 2015: Use of rapid response teams and strong community involvement in finding Ebola virus disease cases and contacts is yielding results in Sierra Leone. An epidemiological week has now passed with no new Ebola cases for the first time since the beginning of the outbreak.

“This is very good news but we have to keep doing this intensively-working with communities to identify potentially new cases early and rapidly stop any Ebola virus transmission” said Dr Anders Nordstrom, WHO Representative in Sierra Leone.

Freetown, Sierra Leone, 7 August 2015 - When people who survive Ebola virus disease leave the Ebola treatment unit (ETU), everybody celebrates. However, emerging from the ETU is just the beginning of their long, hard journey to regain health.