April 21, 2021

By Ilyasa Baa

As the Republic of Guinea continues to battle with the Ebola scourge having one active case, modalities have been put in place to ensure the virus does not spill over to Sierra Leone so that what  happened in 2014 does not replicate itself and bring untold sufferings to the people of Sierra Leone.

According to the Medical Superintendent for Kailahun district, Dr. Francis Lansana, several interventions have been made to put the virus under control if it spills over to the country. He said trainings on capacity building have been conducted for the health workers making them ready to fight any virus. He pointed out that the presence of MSF in the border area is a blessing in disguised for the health sector of Sierra Leone. He described their presence as commendable noting that the country is in readiness to prevent the entry of the Ebola virus.

Risk Communication Lead at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Harold Thomas has said the country has over six hundred doses of Johnson and Johnson Ebola vaccines adding that the country awaits over three thousand Ebola vaccines to land into the country as soon as possible. He said the frontline healthcare workers in the referral hospitals in the border areas are prioritized to receive the vaccine.

He said it was fortunate for the country that the Ebola vaccine trials were conducted in Sierra Leone in 2016 which showed that it is 90% efficacious.

Research indicates that the Ebola virus has not got much impact on Guinea this time because there is immunity to the virus amongst the Guinean population which, like Sierra Leone, suffered tremendously from the 2014 wave. As the country’s cases dwindled to almost zero, it rose again due to what could be referred to as poor surveillance.  But the single case is admitted and vast vaccination conducted in the area where it resurfaced.

Between March 2014 and December 2015, MSF responded in the three most affected countries – Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia – and also to the spread of cases to Nigeria, Senegal and Mali. At the peak of the epidemic, MSF employed nearly 4,000 national staff and more than 325 international staff who ran Ebola management centres as well as conducted surveillance, contact tracing, health promotion and provided psychological support.

MSF admitted 10,310 patients to its Ebola management centres of which 5,201 were confirmed Ebola cases, representing one-third of all WHO-confirmed cases. In total, the organisation spent nearly 104 million euros tackling the epidemic between March 2014 and December 2015. During the first five months of the epidemic, MSF handled more than 85% of all hospitalised cases in the affected countries.

Today MSF continues to support Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone by running Ebola survivor clinics that provide a comprehensive care package, including medical and psychosocial care and activities to counter stigma.

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