Sierra Leone is currently facing a very serious outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). It is part of a regional contagion that has appeared for the first time in West Africa and was first reported in Guinea early in 2014. Although Sierra Leone was the last of the three Mano River countries (the others being Liberia and Guinea) to be affected, it now has the highest number of cases and the outbreak has spread to 12 of the 13 districts of the country since it was first declared on 25 May 2014. According to official records released by the Ministry of Health & Sanitation (MoHS), as at 14 August 2014, EVD had killed over 348 people with a cumulative number of laboratory confirmed cases reaching 733. The CFR is around 45% and a total of 200 patients have been discharged from the treatment centres at the epicentres of Kailahun and Kenema
The national public health authorities, with the support of the United Nations and other governmental and non-governmental partners, have been actively involved in the response. The Accelerated Ebola Outbreak Response Plan was launched by H.E. the President Ernest Bai Koroma on 30th July 2014. At the time of launching, the plan was costed at $25 million, with a short fall of approximately $14 million.
The Plan was organized around four thematic areas which are as follows:
Coordination, finance and logistics
Epidemiology and laboratory
Case management and infection prevention and control; psychosocial support
Social mobilization and public information
Each thematic area has two co-chairs, one from the Government of Sierra Leone and the other from the UN. This appeal has been prepared by the UN Health Team in Sierra Leone in order to significantly scale-up current activities being implemented by the UN through the four thematic areas listed above, in direct support of the Accelerated Ebola Outbreak Response Plan.