Following a request from the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNHRD’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) has rehabilitated a 40-bed holding center in Kambia, northern Sierra Leone. Suspected Ebola patients will go there to be tested, and if positive, they will be moved to an Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU).
The majority of renovation works included decontaminating the site, rehabilitating the water network, fencing, groundwork, painting and constructing latrines, bathrooms and storage areas. This was completed in 12 days.
The centre is now complete and Partners in Health (PiH) will coordinate it with support from a team of African Union (AU) medical staff from Nigeria. On 9 January, the President of Sierra Leone, His Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma, visited for its official inauguration.
If needed, the holding center can be transformed into an ETU with 100 beds by adding another 10m x 24m tent.
Since October 2014, 18 members of UNHRD’s RRT have worked in the Ebola-affected countries on various activities such as establishing staging areas, airport operations, installing a UN clinic, renovating an airport terminal, training local staff on warehousing, supply management, and storage unit installation.
Ambulance decontamination site
Working with the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), Logistics Cluster, and German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), UNHRD’s Rapid Response Team also supported the establishment of an ambulance decontamination site at Hasting Field, near Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown.
The site lies between three ETUs and is where ambulances are sprayed with chlorine and flushed after transporting Ebola patients.
UNHRD’s Rapid Response Team member set-up the storage tents and prefabricated units, as well as supporting other activities.
Due to its expertise in logistics, engineering and telecommunications, the World Food Programme (WFP) was requested to provide dedicated Common Services to the global Ebola response efforts. UNMEER is coordinating and setting priorities for the UN’s Ebola response, and WFP is implementing the logistics operations for UNMEER and other partners as may be required.
