Sierra Leone students win Mandela Award for anti Ebola campaign

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] An anti-Ebola campaign by the Sierra Leone Medical Students Association (SLEMSA) has won them a coveted global award.
The Nelson Mandela-Graca Machel Innovation Award was handed to the organization at the recently concluded International Civil Society Week in the Columbian capital, Bogota.

SLEMSA is the umbrella body for medical students attending Sierra Leone’s only medical school – the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS). Its ‘KickEbolaOut’ was designed as part of the national efforts to end the transmission of the [2014-2-16] Ebola virus disease outbreak in the country.

The campaign primarily took the form of outreach in the capital Freetown. SLEMSA members moved from store to store, street to street, sharing information on how to prevent the transmission of the virus.

The organization was able to do this by raising funds through the help of the International Medical Students Association, which it is a member of. It notably set up a mobile lab for students

All set for Sierra Leone’s first Health and Nutrition Fair

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] All is set for Sierra Leone’s first health and nutrition fair.

The occasion which is slated for the Miatta Conference Center in Freetown this week end, is geared towards popularizing good nutritional lifestyles while promoting healthy living.

The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Secretariat, in collaboration with the Scaling Up Nutrition and Immunization Civil Society Platform (SUNI CSP), is behind the three-day events that will take the form of a float parade, a grand opening session and three days of exhibition.

The SUN, hosted at the office of the Vice President, is the Sierra Leone government’s response to a perennial problem of malnutrition. Its activities are manned by a coordinating office, headed by Dr Mohamed Foh.

“That the secretariat is located in the Office of the Vice President underscores the high level of political commitment on the part of government, as well as the value and impo

Ebola Flareup: Health ministry rules out border closure

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] Sierra Leone will not shutdown its borders despite the risk of a spillover of the Ebola virus disease from its neighbors – Guinea and Liberia, Minister of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), Dr Abu Bakarr Fofanah, has said. He said last week that border closure was not the right answer to the existing threat of the epidemic on the three neighboring countries, citing the economic implications given the cross border trade among the three countries and their “political brotherhood”.

Fofana also said the Mano River Union, ECOWAS and African Union protocols do not encourage border closure because it went against the spirit of bilateral relations.

The minister was speaking during a visit to the border region with Guinea last week. He was addressing security and border control officials at the popular border crossing point with Guinea at Gbalamuya in the northern Kambia District. He said if the advice from health workers is fully adhered to the risk of transmission of the virus will be reduced. In this regard he warned against denial and complacency.

Maternal Health: Sierra Leone partners Johns Hopkins University

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] A partnership between Sierra Leone’s largest maternity hospital, the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital (PCMH), and the Johns Hopkins University will help to tackle the dire state of maternal morbidity and mortality in the country, health officials disclosed last week.

The partnership is aimed at strengthening Sierra Leone’s health system and build human capacity in women’s reproductive health, they said.

The hospital said a six-man delegation, comprising doctors and nurses, was in the country as part of an assessment tour.

Sierra Leone is battling an ‘epidemic’ of maternal deaths which recently prompted the government to declare it a state of Public Health Emergency.

The Johns Hopkins University is an American private research institution which is categorized as one of the leading research facilities in sciences globally. It has an affiliate teaching hospital called the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and a biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. All of these are located in the US with branches in a number of countries in Europe.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest hospitals.

Free healthcare for Ebola survivors

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] The Sierra Leone Government last week directed that all health facilities begin providing free health care for Ebola survivors. The directive came after a noisy demonstration staged by the survivors complaining neglect.

Hundreds of survivors: men, women and children, on Monday 4 April, descended on State House holding placards with messages drawing attention to their plight.

The protest was coordinated by the Sierra Leone Association of Ebola Survivors (SLAES) which listed three key issues they were bothered about. The survivors requested support for their welfare; they wanted action to end stigmatization faced by their members; and, crucially, they demanded that a longstanding promise for free healthcare be implemented.

A meeting was convened at State House in response to the protest, and in attendance was President Ernest Bai Koroma himself.

Ebola: Sierra Leone deploys soldiers at border with Guinea

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] The Sierra Leone government last week announced stringent measures aimed at preventing the spread of the Ebola virus disease from Guinea.

Guinea is battle the viral disease in the second phase of the epidemic that first emerged in March 2014.

According to reports on Monday, at least eight people have died since March 17 when the second outbreak erupted in the country after it was declared free of the virus in December last year.

State House said in a statement last week that it had taken the decisions after a meeting between President Ernest Bai Koroma and relevant sectoral ministers and his national security team.

According to the statement, Koroma was to invoke the military aid to the civil power (Mac-P) in all border areas with Guinea. The meeting also agreed that Ebola protocols, including screening and surveillance activities, be instituted in all border crossing points with Guinea.

Sierra Leone conducts second round polio campaign

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] The second round of the national anti-polio vaccination campaign went underway on Friday targeting 1.462,000 children.

Children between 0 and 59 months were targeted in the exercise by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) which was scheduled to last from Friday April 1 to Monday April 4.

This campaign was part of the global efforts to end Polio transmission. Africa is expected to be declared free of the viral disease that usually affects children sometime next year. Every year countries conduct three rounds of vaccination for the disease. In Sierra Leone the last campaign was held in February.

According to MoHS, they recorded 98.7% coverage in the last exercise, above the 95% target.

“We are encouraging parents to make their children available for polio vaccination when our teams visit their houses,” Dr Mariama Murray, Deputy Programme Manager at the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), said at a press conference on the eve of the exercise.

Media urged to expose effect of alcohol

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] The Media has the moral responsibility to inform the people on the dangers of alcohol consumption, a coalition of civil society organization has said as part of efforts to mobilize against liquor brewers. For months now concerns about the effect of alcohol especially on youths have mounted.

The Sierra Leone Alcohol Policy Alliance (SLAPA), comprising a group of CSOs, wants the government to revise its policy on alcohol use, manufacture and sale. Brewers have come under attack for increasing their alcohol contents in their brews mainly to lure youths to buy them. The situation is made worst by the fact that the brews are extremely cheap, making it easily accessible to even children.

SLAPA says the media can help in their fight by highlighting the effects of the situation rather than focusing on advertising for the producers. They blame alcohol for the high rates of crime, rape,