SIERRA LEONE’S EXPERIENCE ON THE EBOLA OUTBREAK AND LESSONS LEARNT BY: SIERRA LEONE

AIM To share Sierra Leone’s experience on the EVD outbreak, response, challenges and lessons learnt

SCOPE BACKGROUND ESTABLISHMENT OF RESPONSE INSTITUTIONS ESTABLISHMENT OF PILLARS RESPONSE CHALLENGES LESSONS LEARNT CONCLUSIONS

BACKGROUND  Out break of the EVD in Guinea and Liberia  Outbreak in Sierra Leone in May 25 th  Establishment of Presidential Taskforce  Reactivation of Disaster Management Committees  Reactivation of Situation Room  Intensification of community sensitization at border districts

ESTABLISHMENT OF RESPONSE INSTITUTIONS  The Presidential Task Force  Inter-ministerial Task Force  The Emergency Response Centre (EOC)  The National Emergency Response Centre (NERC)  The District Emergency Response Centre

ESTABLISHMENT OF PILLARS  Burial  Case Management  Psycho social  Logistics  Surveillance/Contact Tracing  Social Mobilization  Media/communications

RESPONSE  Engagement of the lasser fever lab and unit in Kenema  Development of IEC materials on prevention  Community sensitization at national and district levels  Establishment of emergency call line 117  Intensification of surveillance  Recruitment, training and empowerment of staff

RESPONSE Cont.  Provision of isolation and treatment facilities  Establishment of Community Care Centres  Strengthening of pillars  Development of SOPs and Technical Guidelines  Conduct district and national surges  Community engagements

LESSONS LEARNT  Inadequate knowledge about EVD  Wrong messaging  Porous Borders  Poor preparation: Inadequate resources/structures  Slow decision on isolation and containment of the EVD in hot spots  Non compliance and non adherence of communities to health policies

CHALLENGES  Perception of the public about the disease  Compliance of all to new health measures  Availability of PPEs  Intermittent industrial action by health care workers  Inadequate resources to keep people in quarantine homes and check points

CHALLENGES CONT  Inaccessibility to border communities due to bad roads  Poor cooperation from members of the public  Coordination of stakeholders to address the outbreak  Inadequate medical centers and bed capacity to manage the sick  Establishment of parallel structures to respond to the outbreak

RECOMMENDATIONS  Maintain and enhance disaster management capabilities  Strengthen decentralized structures  Establish strong Emergency Lines  Establish a national ambulance service  Establish proper financial management structures for disbursement and accountability in an emergency response

RECOMMENDATIONS Cont.  Maintain an ongoing cross-MDA readiness with continuous training and simulation exercises with relevant stakeholder departments

CONCLUSION It can be safely concluded that the outbreak of EVD in Sierra Leone had untold misery on physical, health and mental physic of the population. This is depicted in the number of those that surrendered to the cold hand of death and survivors. The country is still grappling with psycho- social challenges especially stigmatization of the affected. EVD must be seen as a health and security challenge not only to Sierra Leone but anywhere on the globe.