Action contre la Faim (ACF) is concerned by the spread of the Ebola Virus across Sierra Leone and is strongly committed to continue working with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in the emergency response to reduce the risk of the virus further spreading in the Country.
The Ebola Virus Outbreak, declared in Sierra Leone on May 26 by the MoHS, has reached 576 confirmed cases and 211 confirmed deaths by the 4 th August. At the moment 12 out of 14 districts in the Country are regarded as affected including the two districts of Freetown and Moyamba where ACF currently operates in.
Since the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa, ACF Sierra Leone has been supporting the MoHS in developing key messages and communication material to raise awareness on the signs and symptoms of the virus in the communities and with the health staff. Starting from May, ACF was actively involved in the Ebola response integrating Ebola sensitization activities in the daily programme activities. So far in the 2 Districts of Freetown and Moyamba ACF has reached almost 30,000 people during community sensitization activities and addressing at risk groups in markets, lorry parks, schools, churches, mosques, etc. Non-health staff in the hospital in Moyamba was also trained to avoid further spreading of the virus.
In addition, with the support of SIDA, ACF has already trained more than 1,000 Community Health Workers and more than 400 health staff on how to detect and refer suspected Ebola patients. All the activities that ACF is currently implementing are conducted in close collaboration with the District Health Management Teams (DHMT), the MoHS at national level and other partners to ensure that activities are coordinated and that the needs of the most at risk are addressed.
Aside of the Ebola response ACF Sierra Leone is continuing implementing the programmes’ activities in nutrition, food security and WaSH respecting the precaution measures detailed by the MoHS and WHO as well as respecting guidelines indicated in the state of Public emergency declaration (July 31st).
Info on Ebola Ebola virus disease is a severe, often fatal illness, with a death rate of up to 90%. Ebola first appeared in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Sudan. The origin of the virus is unknown. The disease can be transmitted human-human through body fluids and it has an incubation period between 2 and 21 days. Initial symptoms are fever, muscle pains, vomit and diarrhoea that can evolve including internal and external bleeding.
