UNICEF backs nationwide effort to reach every household with lifesaving information
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, 18 September 2014 – An ambitious public information campaign aiming to reach every household in Sierra Leone with life-saving messages on Ebola will take place 19-21 September in a bid to reduce the spread of the disease with the help of community members. UNICEF has provided the Government-led campaign with technical and financial support, including information materials.
“We have been sending life-saving messages through radio, TV and print, but it’s not enough,” said Roeland Monasch, UNICEF Representative in Sierra Leone. “We need to take information to where people are.”
The Ose to Ose Ebola Tok initiative, which means ‘house-to-house talk’ in the Sierra Leonean local language, will see over 28,500 trained social mobilizers, youths and volunteers go to door-to-door to reach 1.5 million households and provide them with information on ways families can protect themselves against the Ebola virus disease and prevent its spread.
As Ebola continues to claim lives and ravage communities, reaching the largest number of people with vital advice, information and guidance on preventing Ebola, alongside the provision of adequate medical care, is critical.
“This is an opportunity to hear from families what they want to know about Ebola. If people don’t have access to the right information, we need to bring life-saving messages to them, where they live, at their doorsteps. The fight against Ebola needs to happen in every household, in every community and in every treatment centre,” said Monasch.
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Photos and video from Ebola-affected countries can be downloaded from: http://uni.cf/1xZAb39
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For further information please contact: Issa Davies, UNICEF Sierra Leone, idavies@unicef.org, +232 76 601 310 Laurent Duvillier, UNICEF Regional Office in Dakar, lduvillier@unicef.org, +221 777 403 577 Najwa Mekki, UNICEF New York, nmekki@unicef.org