Cuban medics at ceremony
By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Gender and advocacy officer in the Ministry of Social Welfare has said that the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone has made 313 children complete orphans since the outbreak in May this year.
Laygbay Lillian Amadu told a press conference, at the headquarters of Sierra Leone nongovernmental organisations in Freetown, that her ministry was identifying and mobilizing children whose parents had succumbed to the Ebola Virus Disease, as well as those who had survived the virus.
She said that as they continued tomobilisechildren there would be medical officers to test them so that they could be certified as Ebola-free. “We will hand them over to humanitarian organisations such SOS, Ben Hirsh, Don Bosco, Save The Children among others, after we are satisfied that they are free of the virus,” said Amadu.
She further stated that they had established interim care centres in Bo and Kenemato provide psycho-social counseling to orphans, adding that they were rehabilitating the National Commission for War Affected Children Centre, which would be used to house other Ebola orphans.
National Coordinator for Sierra Leone association of nongovernmental organisations, Sholla Davies, called on the public, especially those who wished to take care of children affected by Ebola, and urged them to ensure that they met the children’s needs.
Davies however expressed disappointment at the manner in which international organisations had published reports about the country since the Ebola Virus Disease broke out, “particularly when those reports caused other countries to isolate us.”
(C) Politico 09/10/14
