Highlight — Food distribution in Waterloo, Sierra Leone
The Western Area of Sierra Leone, where the capital Freetown is located, is one of the areas worst affected by the outbreak and where transmission remains persistent. To offset the Western Area surge, WFP and its cooperating partner, CIDO, began a major nine-day distribution on 12 December of more than 3,000 mt of food to over 240,000 beneficiaries in Waterloo, a peri-urban area outside Freetown. The aim of the distribution is to provide households with food rations to prevent them from resorting to local markets, where the risk of spreading or contracting the virus is higher. WFP’s food basket includes rice, Super Cereal, pulses, salt and vegetable oil - it feeds a family of five for one month.
3 pillars of WFP support:
Delivering food and nutrition support alongside the health response;
Ensuring the movement of partner staff and materials; and
Providing common services and infrastructure support for health partners.
In numbers
To date, in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone:
More than 2 million people reached since the end of August 2014 with 31,000 mt of food;
3,867 responders transported by UNHAS, with two planes and one helicopter in operation; and
26,000 m3 of cargo transported since September 2014.