By Kemo Cham
The President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is expected to arrive in Freetown today for a three-day visit.
Mr Tadateru Konoe is visiting the country to encourage and thank the local Red Cross, its staff and volunteers for their role in the fight against the Ebola epidemic, a media advisory from the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS) said. It noted that the former Japanese Red Cross president was also scheduled to meet with Government officials, including President Ernest Bai Koroma, with the aim of discussing cooperation towards the building of resilience in affected communities.
IFRC also intends to advocate for more support to cover the country’s post-Ebola recovery needs and discussions with relevant officials will also be centered around this, said the local red cross office.
SLRCS played a major role in the anti-Ebola effort and notably handled the safe and dignified burial aspect of the national response effort.
At some point infection through contact with dead bodies posed a major threat to efforts to end the epidemic, hence the introduction of the ‘Safe and Dignified Burial’ policy.
With 1, 400 trained volunteers, SLRCS buried 28,781 bodies, and participated in social and beneficiary communication. It was also involved in tracing and monitoring contacts, psychosocial support, and it notably operated two Ebola treatment centres in Kenema and Kono.
The SLRC is an affiliate of the IFRC whose support was crucial for its work in the Ebola response.
Abubakar Tarawellie, head of Communications at the SLRC, told Politico that the Federation was “very outstanding” in the support to the SLRCS Ebola response and that the Japanese Red Cross played a crucial role in that.
“The Japanese Red Cross, and by extension the international federation, contributed to the success of the Sierra Leone Red Cross in the fight against the Ebola epidemic,” he said, adding that Mr Konoé’s visit, as a former President of the Japanese Red cross, also signified the strength of the bilateral partnership between Japan and Sierra Leone.
Konoé served as President of Japanese Red Cross Society before becoming head of the Federation. Since then, according to his biography sent to Politico, he has dedicated his entire professional career to domestic and international Red Cross and Red Crescent activities.
He has held several posts in the IFRC, including as member of the Standing Commission of the Red Cross Red Crescent, member of the IFRC Finance Commission, director of the IFRC disaster preparedness bureau.
(C) Politico 04/02/16
