Ebola causes neurological problems for survivors – report

It seems revelations on the effect of the Ebola epidemic are far from over. The latest revelations suggest a possible longer effect of the virus on the mental ability of survivors.

A new study by US-based National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) confirmed what has been a long held suspicion on the effect of the Ebola virus on survivors.

According to the report released last week, many survivors of the deadly viral disease face certain neurological symptoms that last long even after the potentially deadly infection had worn off.

“While an end to the outbreak has been declared, these survivors are still struggling with long-term problems,” said Dr. Lauren Bowen, the study author, according to an American Academy of Neurology news release.

The researchers said they evaluated the health of around 82 survivors of the disease in Liberia, one of three countries hardest hit by the epidemic that erupted in early 2014 and lasted until early 2016.

Over 11, 000 lives were lost to it worldwide, mostly in the three neighboring countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, with over 28, 000 cases.

Sierra Leone has over 3000 survivors and lost close to 4000 people to the virus.

The NINDS researchers said most of the survivors were struggling with one or the other kind of post Ebola neurological issues six months after they were first infected with the deadly virus.

They said the common symptoms associated with the survivors included memory loss, headache, depression, weakness, muscle pain, irregular reflexes and abnormal eye movements.

“We wanted to find out more about possible continued long-term brain health problems for the more than 17,000 survivors of the infection. It is important for us to know how this virus may continue to affect the brain long-term,” said Bowen.

Calls to investigate high alcohol content

A youth organization last week called on the Sierra Leone government to investigate alcohol contents in local brews which are blamed for the increasing high rate of crime in the country.

Alcohol manufacturers have been accused of putting high alcohol contents in their brews against existing policies, which buyers tend to prefer anyway. The problem is that the local brews, which are overly cheap, are particularly popular among young people.

The Youth Empowerment and Development Association Sierra Leone (YEDA – SL) said last week the actions of these brewers was setting the country on the path to destruction and it called on the government to act.

ZMapp promising treatment for Ebola – new study

A study released last week has indicated that the experimental Ebola treatment ZMapp has promising potential in treating patients of the deadly viral disease.

The study findings show that the drug sharply increases the chance of surviving virus, according to details released at last week’s medical conference in the US.

ZMapp was one of about half a dozen experimental drugs deployed during the epidemic for trial. But researchers were frustrated by dwindling cases when the epidemic halted so that there weren’t enough patients to administer drugs on.

The ZMapp study involves 72 patients, out of the 200 originally planned. It found that 22 percent of participants given ZMapp died, compared

Sierra Leone: Ignorance fuels stigma for Epilepsy sufferers

By Kemo Cham

Prof Lisk

[First published on www.politicosl.com] In Sierra Leone ignorance about epilepsy is fuelling stigma and discrimination against sufferers of the medical condition caused by brain disorder, according to campaigners and doctors.

Epilepsy is widely associated with witchcraft and many sufferers endure extortion and torture in the hands of traditional healers who take advantage of a severe knowledge gap that drive even conventional health facilities to turn away patients.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder which often manifests itself in the form of seizures.

The Epilepsy Association of Sierra Leone (EASL) estimates that between 60 and 80, 000 people live with the condition in the country. But a major problem is that majority of these people hardly know that they are suffering from it.

Neurologist, Professor Radcliffe Lisk, who heads the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS)’s epilepsy programme, said up to five years ago when the unit was first established there was

Sierra Leone enlisted into US’ anti-malaria program

By Kemo Cham

An Anopheles stephensi mosquito shortly after obtaining blood from a human

[First published on www.politicosl.com] Sierra Leone has been included in the United States’ President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), the White House has announced.

The country was named on Monday alongside Cote D’Ivoire and Cameroon to be part of the US government’s program that seeks to eliminate the deadly parasitic disease that accounts for most global deaths to illness.

Malaria is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan called plasmodium. The parasite is transmitted by the mosquito.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the disease claimed 438,000 lives worldwide last year, out of 214 million cases.

More than 3 billion people, nearly half of the world’s population, are at risk of contracting malaria, according to WHO.

The PMI is a bipartisan effort initiated by President George W. Bush and it

Health ministry on mass recruitment of workers

By Kemo Cham

Nurses at a Sierra Leone health facility

[First published on www.politicosl.com] The Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) has announced the commencement of mass recruitment of health workers with a view of enhancing the human resource base of an overstretched health sector.

The recruitment process is targeting volunteer health workers who served in the national Ebola response. Over 500 of them, from 11 districts, are being enlisted by the National Health Service Commission (NHSC) as Maternal and Child Health Assistants (MCHA), who were previously called Maternal and Child Health Aides.

The NHSC is responsible for recruitment and appointment of personnel within the health ministry. It does so in conjunction with the directorate of Human Resources of the ministry.

Dr Alpha Bundu-Kamara, Chairman NHSC, cited the country’s poor health indices which have been worsened by the Ebola epidemic. He said the infant mortality rate, which stands at 140 per 1,000 live births, and maternal mortality rate at 857 per 1,000 live births, illustrated the n

New Finance Act to boost Free Healthcare

By Kemo Cham

Lactating mothers line up at a Sierra Leonean hospital

[First published on www.politicosl.com] A new Finance Act aimed at boosting the donor funded partial Free Health Care (FHC) initiative has been submitted to parliament, the National Revenue Authority has confirmed.

The Act, which also aims at encouraging women’s empowerment, provides for the allocation of 0.5 percent of all GSTs charged to the Free Health Care programme introduced some five years ago to boost access to health care for some of the most vulnerable people in society.

The Finance Act 2016 is an amendment of the current Finance Act, Mohamed Bangura, Corporate Affairs Manager of NRA, told Politico on Monday. He said it seeks to widen the revenue base of the government.

In 2010 the government, through donor support, launched the FHC initiative which provides for a partial free health care for pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children under five years old. The move was in response to a high rate of maternal and infant mortality, a legacy of the eleven years civil war.

The UN children’s agency Unicef, the United Kingdom agency for international development,

Media regulator develops rules on reporting emergencies

By Kemo Cham

Inside an unknown Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone

[First published on www.politicosl.com] The media’s coverage of the Ebola epidemic revealed the need for guidelines for the reportage of emergencies, Sierra Leone’s Independent Media Commission (IMC) has said.

The media regulator said it has therefore instituted plans to develop comprehensive guidelines for reporting on Ebola, other major diseases, and natural disasters. IMC officials said they have secured US$16, 000 from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to bankroll the project that has been estimated at US$18, 000. The IMC will foot the remaining $16, 000.

“This project is important to us particularly when we consider the fact that the Commission’s Media Code of Practice is limited and does not make specific provisions to guide media practitioners in the reportage of such outbreaks and other major national disasters,” said Allieu Kanu, Chairman, IMC.

He told journalists at a press conference last week that the guidelines were expected to significantly contribute to professional and responsible reporting, press

Postgrad medical college for Sierra Leone

By Kemo Cham

Sierra Leone Health Minister Dr Abu Bakarr Fofana

[First published on www.politicosl.com] The Sierra Leone government has set in motion a plan to establish a post graduate medical school in response to a dire need for specialist medical training.

Minister of health and sanitation, Dr Abu Bakarr Fofanah recently confirmed the development shortly after the approval of the ‘Sierra Leone Council for Postgraduate Colleges Act 2016’ by parliament. The passing of the piece of legislation paved the way for the establishment of the body that would oversee the realization of a long held dream for many young medical doctors in the country.

Sierra Leone is struggling to bridge a huge doctor-patient ratio. But even at this the need for specialist practitioners have left young doctors struggling to meet requirements

The sorry state of Sierra Leone’s anaesthetics department

By Kemo Cham

A training session on the Universal Anaesthesia Machine at Connaught Hospital in Freetown

[First published on www.politicosl.com] Imagine you are in surgery involving hacking off of your limb, sewing up of a wound or the removal of a tumor from a part of your body without anything to reduce the pain. What anesthetics dois reduce the pain in the patient.

Anaesthesia is a crucial age old discipline in the medical field, yet it is one of the most poorly developed in Sierra Leone. Those familiar with the department say it is just another casualty of a familiar trend of indifference by a health system barely functioning. Most hospitals across the country do not have enough staff to provide safe anaesthetics, putting many lives at risk, say officials.

Anaesthesia is a surgical discipline that deals with preparing of patients for operation, monitoring the patient throughout the surgery and making sure that they are safe after

Sierra Leone holds first ‘Open Space Conference’ on health

By Kemo Cham

That the West African Ebola epidemic exposed the weakness of the region’s health sector as demonstrated by its devastating impact has been extensively reported on. But the reason for its long-drawn-out nature has hardly been told enough.

That’s what the first ever ‘Open Space Conference’ in Sierra Leone intended to achieve. Organised jointly by the German Institute for Medical Mission (DIAFAEM) and the Sierra Leone Adult Education Association (SLADEA), the three-day (February 2-4) gathering brought together over a 100 people drawn from across diverse backgrounds to discuss the healthcare system and diagnose why the Ebola epidemic may have struck so deep.

Participants, some of whom came from the other two Mano River Basin countries – Guinea and Liberia – were meant to proffer suggestions on ways to boost the health sector.

“We have put the end of Ebola behind us but that’s not the end of it all,” said historian and academic, Professor Joe A.D. Alie, at the opening ceremony at the m

Sierra Leone on target to eliminate leprosy – Official

By Kemo Cham

[First published on www.politicosl.com] Sierra Leone is on target to eliminate the bacterial disease Leprosy, a health official has said in Freetown.

Dr. Lynda Foray, Programme Manager, National Leprosy and TB Control Programme at the ministry of health and sanitation, MoHS, said in the six decades of fight against the disease Sierra Leone had “enviably” reached the prevalence rate of less than one leprosy patient per every ten thousand of the population.

He said that meant that the country had not only reached the elimination target as set out by the World Health organization, WHO, but that it had also been able to maintain it.

According to the ministry, Sierra Leone’s leprosy incidences had progressed as follows: “in 2011 there were 274 cases; in 2013 it was reduced to 202; and by 2014 it significantly came down to 145,” adding that by the end of 2015 the number of new leprosy cases registered went further down to 133.

“All is not lost because leprosy is curable and treatment is available free of cost,” Dr Foray said at the commemoration of the sixty-third World Leprosy Day, last Tuesday [February 2].

Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is a contagious disease that affects the skin and nerves, and it causes discoloration and lumps on the skin. It primarily affects the peripheral nerves, skin, upper respiratory tract, eyes, and nasal mucosa. In severe cases it causes disfigurement and deformities.

The disease is caused by the rod-shaped bacillus bacterium, known as Mycobacterium leprae.

Researchers are still not clear about the exact mode of transmission of leprosy, although it is widely believed that the bacteria are spread via the respiratory system through nasal droplets. Contact to broken skin is also considered as a possibility, because the M. leprae is believed to survive best at low temperatures and primarily affects the superficial sites of the skin and peripheral nerves.

World Leprosy Day is observed annually around the world to raise global awareness on the disease. The town of Kenema hosted this year’s occasion in Sierra Leone.

It was convened under the theme: “Take action against Stigma and Discrimination Now! Prevent Transmission of Leprosy in Children.”

The MoHS has vowed to take proactive measures to ensure early detection and treatment of the disease with a notable focus on prevention of transmission in children. The ministry is also concerned about acts of discrimination and stigmatization against people affected by leprosy.

Stigma was at the center of the address in a televised speech of the minister of health, Dr. Abu Bakarr Fofanah, in commemoration of the day.

While reiterating the fact that the disease is curable, Dr Fofanah said his ministry was inclined to join hands with the President of the International Federation of Anti- Leprosy Association to counter all acts and forms of discrimination and stigmatization against people affected by leprosy.

“We are taking proactive measures to ensure early detection and treatment of Leprosy, to prevent transmission to children” he said.

The German Leprosy and TB Relief Association (GLRA), and WHO are major partners of the MoHS in the fight against leprosy.

Cyril Johnson, Country Representative of GLRA, reiterated his organisation’s commitment to continue supporting Sierra Leone in the fight to eradicate the disease in the country.

(C) Politico 09/02/16

Maternal death surveillance response launched

By Kemo Cham

[First Published on www.politicosl.com] The Ministry of Health and Sanitation has unveiled a programme aimed at providing real time information and data to inform the management of maternal deaths in the country.

The Maternal Death Surveillance Response (MDSR), according to health officials, would help to provide missing information on maternal deaths for evidence based actions countrywide, so as to enable authorities utilize existing resources and recommend life-saving interventions.

Sierra Leone currently has one of the highest rates of maternal deaths in the world. According to the World Health Organisation’s 2015 figures, the country is among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest maternal mortality ratios (MMR), estimated at 1,360 deaths per 100,000 live births.

The MoHS estimates that 2,400 women do not survive pregnancy and or child birth every year.

Despite the huge spending by government and partners, “the situation remains very challenging,” Dr. Santigie Sesay, Director of Reproduction and Child Health, MoHS, said at the inaugural meeting of the MDSR last week. He declared that it was unacceptable for any woman to die while giving birth.

The MoHS say maternal deaths that occur within communities are usually not recorded, or when obstetric complications occur, it was often too late to save the mother.

MDSR is a form of continuous surveillance that links the health information system and quality improvement processes from local to national level. It involves routine identification, notification, qualification and determination of causes of all maternal deaths. The information generated is then used to respond appropriately to prevent further deaths.

Dr. Sesay cited the cause of death by women as failure to recognize danger signs, poverty which makes it difficult for people to undertake medical expenses, and reluctance by the mother or family to seek medical care. He also blamed inadequate awareness of existing services, as well as shortages of supplies such as emergency medicines or blood as contributing factors to the situation.

Dr Sesay said some of the women die because of inaccessibility to family planning commodities and deliveries by unskilled workers, mostly Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), which increase chances of complications and lead to preventable deaths.

(C) Politico 09/02/16