The strong leadership of the Sierra Leone Government, working with partners from around the globe, mobilized the necessary expertise needed to contain the outbreak.
Advertisement
“Today, November 7, 2015, the World Health Organisation declares the end of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone”, Anders Nordstrom, the United Nations agency’s country representative, told a ceremony in the capital Freetown, provoking prolonged cheering from the gathered dignitaries.
The country has gone 42 days without a case of Ebola – equal to two incubation periods of 21 days – to be declared free of transmission.
A ban on pregnant girls attending school has informally existed for a decade, but it was declared a government policy in April, when schools re-opened in the wake of the Ebola outbreak. World Health Organization has recorded seven new cases in neighboring Guinea in the past 21 days.
This time a year ago – the peak of the outbreak – there were hundreds of new Ebola cases every week. of the Ebola virus.
Sierra Leone now enters a 90-day intensive surveillance period.
“We now have a unique opportunity to support Sierra Leone to build a strong and resilient public health system ready to detect and respond to the next outbreak of disease, or any other public health threat.” said Dr Nordström.
Authorities caution that vigilance must continue.
Advertisement
Abdulla Bayraytay, national publicity and outreach coordinator in the Sierra Leone’s government, said carnivals are being planned throughout the country to celebrate the day, but also to remember the almost 4,000 people who lost their lives to the virus. “Without preempting that, part of the address will be to salute all the people who contributed in the fight and also to congratulate the resilience exhibited by Sierra Leoneans”, Bayraytay said. “Experience has shown that where Ebola has occurred, it will resurface”. It involves a child born to a 25-year-old woman who has Ebola.
