THE EFFECTS OF EBOLA IN SIERRA LEONEby | 29-08-2014 15:19 |
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Ebola is a deadly pandemic that is affecting our society today. Many will ask what Ebola is, well, this article will teach us about it. An epidemic of the Ebola virus disease is ongoing in some West African countries. The outbreak first began in Guinea in March 2014. Since its initial outbreak, the virus has spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. The outbreak is the most severe in recorded history in regard to both the number of human cases and fatalities. A suspected 1603 cases with 887 deaths have been reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) as of 1 August 2014, of which 1009 cases and 574 deaths have been laboratory confirmed to be Ebola. Various organizations, including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and the European Commission have donated funds and mobilized personnel to help counter the outbreak charities including Medecins Sans Frontieres, the Red Cross. The outbreak has progressed rapidly in Sierra Leone. The first cases were reported on 25 May in the Kailahun District, near the border with Gueckedou in Guinea. By 20 June, there were 158 suspected cases, mainly in Kailahun and the adjacent district of Kenema, but also in the Kambia, Port Loko and Western districts in the north west of the country. By 17 July, the total number of suspected cases in the country stood at 442, and had overtaken those in Guinea and Liberia. By 20 July, cases had additionally been reported in the Bo District the first case in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, was reported in late July. Sierra Leone has instituted a temporary measure which includes reactivation of its "Active Surveillance Protocol" that will see all travelers into the country from either Guinea or Liberia subjected to strict screening to ascertain their state of health. The government of Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency on 30 July and deployed troops to quarantine the hot spots of the epidemic. As an ambassador, who owns a youth development platform, we undertook a sensitization exercise to help minimize the impact that Ebola has on people. Many activities have been done on the radio and television, but there is a great neglect of people in the slums and ghettos. As an institution that deals with building up young people, we want to take the message to them in the form of outreaches sessions in which we shall be using pictorial images to teach them on how it is spread and how it can be prevented in which we shall also engage them in key healthy practices with distribution of preventive items like chlorine and sanitizers which will help deter the spread of the disease. All of these are part of our patriotic responsibility as Sierra Leoneans. The key messages that will be used are ?Save mama Salone from Ebola by using preventive measures, you can be Ebola Free if you practice the safe methods and how can I limit the spread of Ebola?. These messages will be portrayed using pictorial presentation as well as dialogue training sessions in various communities. To attain this, we did the following in order: • To reduce the alarming spread of Ebola in our country, highlighting the specific carriers of the virus which includes but not limited to: Bats, Chimpanzees, Monkeys, fruits eaten partly by Bats etc. • To promote healthy practices through Drama and pictorial presentations • Use pictorial images to teach on the mode of transmission as well as preventive measures • Organize a training for trainers sessions with key leaders within the slums and ghettos for continuity after the sessions • Make use of brochures and posters after all the sessions have been handled In a way, we contributed towards the awareness raising of the epidemics. |
