Sierra Leone News

“In our chiefdom we have the necessary structures in place — leaders of all the villages are part of the Ebola response and fully involved, we have an active surveillance approach, and the population is well informed,” explains Philip Musa Koroma, Deputy Paramount Chief of Nimiyama Chiefdom in Kono district in Eastern Sierra Leone.

For many people, December 22 was the beginning of the holiday season. But for Rebeca Johnson, a Sierra Leone nurse who survived Ebola, it marked a return to work - and a new lease on life.
"I will take the work normally as I did before. I will wear the full PPE, but I won’t ever be scared again because I have immunity."
Ebola survivor tells her story

When Ebola first swept through Port Loko District, Sierra Leone the rash of sudden inexplicable deaths was so shocking local people explained it as "a witch plane crash."
But as husbands, wives, aunts, uncles and children began to sicken and die they realized this was not a supernatural event but something very human that would take human actions to reverse.

As the Ebola outbreak grows and spreads, a small but significant group of people is also growing - the Ebola survivors. Emerging shell-shocked from what one described as a "glimpse of hell", the survivors have not found life easy on the other side of the Ebola ward.

Some in the community brand them as "witches" for surviving. For many, the faces they longed to see again while lying in the Ebola ward are no longer there. Husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers have all been carried off to unmarked graves by Ebola virus disease.

12 September 2014 -- Cuba is known the world over for its ability to train excellent doctors and nurses who can then go out to help other countries in need. And now it will send a medical team of 165 people to Sierra Leone to help in the frontline in the Ebola response efforts.
Read the feature story
Read the statement

Intense surveillance in Kambia, Sierra Leone, has revealed around 75% of deaths have been occurring in children under 5. Even though Ebola transmission was halted in Kambia last month, mothers still are afraid of Ebola and don’t take their young children to health centres. WHO epidemiologists are countering misperceptions to get mothers and their children back to the health centres and lower childhood mortality rates.

Freetown, 11 August 2014 – President Ernest Bai Koroma made his third visit to the Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at the WHO Country Office in Freetown today 11 August. The President last visited the Centre on Saturday 9 August. In today’s visit the President participated in the daily meeting where he received briefing by the Minister of Health and Sanitation Ms Miatta Kargbo and the EOC body on the decisions, required actions and measures agreed upon by the EOC members as well as progress and challenges in the response.

Freetown, 9 August 2014 – The President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, on Saturday, visited the Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at the WHO Country Office in Sierra Leone. This is the second visit of the President in 10 days. He made true his promise during his first visit on 31 July that he would be following up on the emergency response activities of the EOC.

Freetown, 1 August 2014 - The WHO Country Office in Sierra Leone on 1 August 2014 donated a consignment of assorted items worth US$38,000 to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. The donation is part of WHO’s continued support to the government of Sierra Leone in the Ebola outbreak response. The various items included 3,000 Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to protect health workers particularly those that are directly involved in the management of cases in the treatment centres, the ambulance and burial teams. 

Freetown, 31 July 2014 - His Excellency President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone made a visit to the Ebola Emergency Operational Centre (EOC) work station at the World Health Organization Country Office in Sierra Leone on 31 July 2014. The President made the visit to assess readiness of the EOC which is the leading Coordination Structure in the Ebola outbreak response in Sierra Leone. Membership of the EOC comprised of heads of strategic local and international development agencies including the United Nations agencies, MSF, and other partners.