By Kemo Cham
[First published on www.politicosl.com] Sierra Leone’s
preparedness for a Zika virus outbreak has been boosted by the Chinese
government with the establishment of the only lab in the country with the
capability to test for the virus.
The National Reference Laboratory
for Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers and National Training Center for Viral Detection
and Biosafety, housed within the Sierra Leone-China Friendship Biosafety
Laboratory in Freetown, is just of one several health interventions announced
by the Chinese government for Sierra Leone recently.
Chinese ambassador Zhao Yanbo and
Health and Sanitation Minister Dr Abubakarr Fofanah, officially unveiled a
plaque at the entrance of the lab situated at the China-Sierra Leone Friendship
Hospital in Jui, Western Rural District, last week.
Dr. Gao Fu, Deputy Director-General
of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was also in attendance.
Gao Fu was at the head of a
delegation from China visiting Sierra Leone this month. They have met with
government officials, including President Ernest Bai Koroma and the Health
Minister.
The Chinese have already announced
plans to build a center for the control and prevention of tropical diseases, as
well as a new office for the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.
The delegation also presented a
consignment of military aid to the 34 Military Hospital at a ceremony marking
the signing of an agreement for the upgrading of the hospital. The package
includes a disease surveillance department, a general out-patient department
and a lab for the hospital.
The Sierra Leone-China Friendship
Biosafety Laboratory was established during the fight against the Ebola
epidemic. It was one of China’s first responses to the fight against the
disease that ravaged West Africa largely because of lack of infrastructure like
testing labs.
The lab was one of the first
deployed to test for the Ebola virus, at a time when scarcity of labs meant
patients had to wait for long hours or even days to know their test results. Many
died before their test results came out.
The Chinese lab has also been
providing local laboratory personnel training and bilateral public health
cooperation.
When the Ebola epidemic broke out in
Sierra Leone, China initially sent a mobile biosafety laboratory to the country
by chartered airplanes while the fixed biosafety laboratory was been built.
The support from the Chinese
government and people would never be forgotten by the Sierra Leonean government
and people, said Mr Fofanah, in a statement at the ceremony marking the opening
of lab, as released by the Chinese this week.
When the Ebola epidemic broke out
China was the first country to answer the appeal of President Koroma and sent
in the urgently needed anti-Ebola materials, the minister said.
Now China-aided biosafety laboratory
is the most advanced laboratory in the sub-region, making great contributions
to the prevention and control of infectious disease in Sierra Leone, he added.
(C) Politico 29/06/16
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