The fight against Ebola appears to be close to being won but the risk of fallen victim of complaisance is also high. It is in this regard that the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) has launched a campaign geared towards keeping the momentum against the viral disease that has claimed closed to 10, 000 lives, mostly in the three hardest hit countries – Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Part of the SLAJ campaign is the symbolic introduction of a yellow ribbon, to represent the Ebola Virus Disease.“It is common that when you are running a race the last Kilometre, the last 100 metres, the last few yards are the hardest to cover,” said Kelvin Lewis, President of SLAJ, at the launch on Saturday.
He cited lessons from the civil war which he noted the former NPRC military junta fought with an initial zeal only to relax when they sensed victory.
“Capt Strasser then called on the rebels to lay down their arms. It was a mistake. The war was not over yet, but the NPRC government had become complacent,” Lewis said.
“It is this lesson that we must draw from in dealing with Ebola. Let us not become complacent and relax, saying because the numbers are down, the fight against Ebola is over. It is not over until the last case. We must remember that there was only one case, which led to over 8,000 infections and over 2,000 deaths.”
The warning comes as the authorities struggle to deal with a sudden outbreak of the virus in Aberdeen with hundreds of people reported to have been quarantined there. Some people have blamed that on the “premature” lifting of restrictions on movement by the government.
The SLAJ campaign is particularly symbolic by its introduction of the yellow ribbon to represent the Ebola disease, as the red ribbon represent HIV/AIDs and the pink one representing breast cancer.
“These are killer diseases much like ebola. So we decided we would chose a ribbon as our symbol. The yellow ribbon has been used to bring back US veterans from the Vietnam war. Today the yellow ribbon is used to signify the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. These are good causes. We chose yellow because it is a bright colour, it does not spell doom. It is vibrant it is life and for those interested in valentine it is uniqueness,” Lewis.
President Ernest Bai Koroma was represented at the occasion which took place at the historic Cotton Tree in central Freetown by one of his Special Advisers, Professor Monti Jones, who reassured that President Ernest Bai Koroma`s commitment to eradicating the disease both out of Sierra Leone and in the sub-region.
“There are no more buckets around, complacency is creeping in. We should bring back the buckets and the thermometers in all offices and public places,” Prof. Jones said.
Also in attendance was the Chief Executive Officer of the National Ebola Response Center, Rtd Major Palo Conte, who praised the journalist umbrella body for the initiative.
“This campaign comes at the right time as our people have become complacent as a result of the low cases recorded recently,” he said.
The head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Response (UNMEER), Amadou Kamara, called the campaign a challenge to all Sierra Leoneans.
Freetown Mayor Bode Gibson expressed delight that SLAJ was now “pledging their love and loyalty to their country.”
© Politico 17/02/15
