By Mustapha Kamara Jnr
The World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesperson in Freetown has said that the Ebola outbreak may last for another year if Sierra Leone is not able to end the outbreak before the dry season.
Pieter Desloovere told Politico that the Ebola Virus Disease, which struck in May last year, affected 10,934 and killed 3,341 so far, could extend its stay in the country, the hardest hit in the region, if adequate measures were not taken to end its spread beyond April this year.
The UN global health agency is one of the major health partners in the fight against the deadly hemorrhagic virus in West Africa. Other international organisations include the Centre for Disease Control and Medicine San Frontier.
Desloovere said the organisation made the pronouncement because they knew that during the raining season it would be very difficult to do proper contact tracing and bring out Ebola affected persons, transport logistics for Ebola victims in hard-to-reach communities, villages and towns across the country.
“At the moment access to Ebola affected communities around the country is somehow easy but it will be very difficult during the raining season to reach communities in Kenema and Kailahun for example,” he noted.
He added that the health emergency situation could be more complicating during the raining season because rains could wash away roads and make it hard for medical experts and Ebola supplies to reach remote affected communities.
The WHO spokesperson observed that the country was in the most critical stage in the fight against the epidemic, adding that even though many Sierra Leoneans were optimistic WHO was worried because people were being complacent and could lead to increase of new confirmed Ebola cases in the country.
“Though Sierra Leone is getting close to ending the Ebola outbreak, is not over yet. People should be more vigilant to end the disease,” the WHO spokesperson said.
Commenting on the issue of the reopening of schools, Desloovere said the organisation was neither in favor nor was it against government's plan to reopen schools and other higher learning institutions in the country.
He said WHO's concerned was to ensure that the government initiated measures to ensure that students and pupils were safe in their different learning environments.
Meanwhile, head of government's National Ebola Response Centre, Rtd Major Paolo Conteh, had told a recent press conference at the Special Court in Freetown that they, with the help of other international partners, were strengthening social mobilisation and contact tracing especially in communities that were still recording new confirmed Ebola cases.
He advised Sierra Leoneans to collectively take ownership of the fight to break the chain of new transmission and end the Ebola epidemic.
“We have investigated some areas that were still recording high cases like the Porto Loko District. We would be doing everything possible to reverse the situation,” Major Palo had said.
© Politico 12/02/15
