Sierra Leone News

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.

When the Tonkolili District reported a new case of Ebola on 24 July 2015, it marked a change in the Sierra Leone Ebola response. A rapid response team was despatched to manage this new source of infection, the first case in that area for more than 150 days. It resulted in a whole village being quarantined, and showed how quickly Ebola can travel and that no district can let down its guard until there are zero cases of Ebola.

Moses Alpha Turay survived Ebola but lost everything that was dear to him. In the space of one month last year, his wife, his two children, and four other close family members all died of the Ebola disease. “My wife and children died at the same Ebola treatment centre while I was still admitted there”.

The United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) was established on 19 September 2014, mandated as a temporary measure to harness the capabilities of all the relevant UN actors under a singular operational crisis management system to reinforce unity of purpose among responders and to ensure a rapid and effective response to the Ebola crisis.

Sierra Leone conducts immunization and birth registration campaigns for children under five

In Sierra Leone, the Ebola outbreak has affected all aspects of health care. Exact numbers are yet to be confirmed but it is clear that many children have missed out on routine vaccination services and birth registration during the outbreak. To counter this, mass immunization campaigns are being held to enable children to ‘catch-up’. In June this year, an integrated measles and polio campaign was conducted reaching 97% of children under the age of 5.

9 July 2015 -- In Sierra Leone’s Magazine Wharf community, people distrust the services set up to tackle Ebola. When ambulances arrive to take away those who are ill, patients, their families, and their neighbours fear they will never return or they will be mistreated. So, WHO and its partners held a demonstration to reassure communities.

Mr. Chairman

The Vice President Republic of Sierra Leone

Minister of Health & Sanitation

Representatives from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation

Representatives from the Local Council

Colleagues from the United Nations

Members of the media

Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the United Nations in Sierra Leone, I would like to express my pleasure and gratitude to be here with you today and to speak on the occasion of the launch of the Measles and Polio Immunization Campaign.

Freetown, Sierra Leone – 4 June 2015: The World Health Organization’s new Representative in Sierra Leone, Dr Anders Nordström, today 4 June 2015 presented his credentials to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in Freetown.