President Ernest Bai Koroma yesterday assured the visiting joint US-Norwegian delegation that his country would not "export" Ebola to any other country, according to a newsfeed from the State House Communication Unit.
Meeting at State House with the delegation which included the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Rajiv Shaw and Norwegian foreign minister, Borge Brende, the president said Ebola was not something anybody wanted, noting that it was a global issue.
He said what was needed now was to strengthen safety and security measures at the country's airport, stressing that at "a critical time like this" there was an urgent need for more treatment centres, care centres and the strengthening of social mobilisation across the country.
The president underscored the importance of increasing the laboratory capacity of the country to reverse the delay and reactions from communities.
"We need to ramp up our lab capacity that can handle 500 to 600 samples a day and it requires to be done quicker," he said.
He pointed out that it was timely to take a close look at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) and restructure it "to be more effective" so as to get decisions implemented quickly.
"As we work earnestly together to move ahead of the virus, we must quickly harness and step up our efforts to address the challenges in order to break the chain of transmission," he said.
He said that one way to ease the pressure would be to embark on family education and person-to-person messaging, emphasising the need to put on hold certain cultural practices that have been identified as a major means of infection.
The visiting delegation is in the country to support the acceleration of the Ebola response and to work on specific points raised by the president during a recent video conference at a World Bank Breakfast
Meeting in America.
The USAID Administrator said they were here to discuss specific ideas that had been championed by the
country in its Ebola fight, citing issues raised by President Koroma during the video conference.
Quoting President Obama, Rajiv Shaw said Ebola was both a threat to national security and global health. He disclosed that the United States had pledged an additional support of US$ 142 million "to support the acceleration of the fight against Ebola" according to the newsfeed.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Brende said they were in the country to show solidarity as Ebola was not only an issue for Sierra Leone but also a global issue that required a global response. He informed President Koroma that additional doctors and nurses would be in the country and that more medical intervention and equipment would be provided including beds to fully contain the situation.
(C) Politico 16/10/14
