By Mustapha Kamara Jnr
Save The Children Sierra Leone, a frontline Non-Governmental Organization in the fight against Ebola, is set to introduce radio
programmes as a step-up in the fight against the epidemic presently ravaging the country.
Its Community Health Manager at the Kerry Town treatment centre, operated by the NGO, Sembia Johnson, said they would be using community radio stations to update and sensitize citizens about the operations of the centre.
Kerry Town is situated in the Western Rural District.
Speaking to Politico, Johnson said they had already decided to train residents around the community and were going to use the media outlets
there to give update about the centre's operations.
She explained that Save The children wanted to make clear the mandate, roles and responsibilities of the centre to communities in the western rural area and to the nation at large, adding that there were a lot of misunderstandings about their operations.
"The intended radio programmes would continue sensitization on the Ebola disease to prevent new transmission of the Ebola virus disease," she stated.
The community health manager added that as an NGO, they wanted to ensure that the right messages about the disease and operations at the Kerry Town treatment facility continued to reach Sierra Leoneans across the country.
She noted: "The treatment centre has been doing a great job in the fight to end Ebola in Sierra Leone as it has admitted, treated and discharged many Ebola survivors." She promised that it would continue to give better treatment to Ebola patients.
Chief Alimamy Kamara Bentembeh II, a representative of tribal heads, observed that even though the initiative was great "it came very late".
As tribal heads in the western rural district, one of the areas most affected by the Ebola outbreak, the Chief promised that they would continue to enforce by-laws so as to ensure that the disease was eradicated from communities within their reach.
© Politico 15/01/15
