Disaster Response

Kambia, April 6, 016 (MOHS) - Health and Sanitation Minister, Dr. Abu Bakarr Fofanah has said that Ebola is a stubborn disease and has the tendency to re-emerge based on historical evidence, and lauded border personnel for being vigilant.

Addressing the Military, Police, Port Health Workers, Immigration Officers and Community Elders at the Gbalamuya Sierra Leone - Guinea border crossing point in the Kambia district, Dr. Fofanah reminded his audience that after the end of the outbreak announcement by WHO in Sierra Leone, the country unexpectedly experienced the re-emergence of a case, and similarly for Guinea and Liberia, and warned against denial and complacency.

Garmai Sumo welcomes us with a pleasant smile. Dressed in an elegant African printed top and basic jeans, she looks radiant with her new hairstyle. “I have put away the gloves, mask and gown. Ebola is now over!” she exclaims, transforming her smile into a real burst of laughter before hastening to add, “but washing my hands remains a daily reflex.”

The young woman of 29 was among the 5,000 volunteers trained and mobilized by the Liberia National Red Cross Society during the Ebola outbreak, displaying courageous efforts to stop the disease through the provision of safe and dignified burials, contact tracing, psychosocial support, and surveillance and social mobilization.

With dusk descending, Fanta Condé and Mariam Touré arrive in the village of Fermessadou, in southern Guinea.

Ebola. Pandemic flu. And now the Zika virus. These emergencies all test the mettle of the world’s public health officials.

Those who would face such a challenge must have some sense of what to do.

“We need to be prepared, and quite frankly, the country is underprepared,” said U.S. Rep Susan Brooks, who Wednesday convened a group of about 40 public health workers and other would-be first responders to run through a training exercise at the Fishers Public Library.

Dr. W. Craig Vanderwagen, former assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, led the thought experiment into how to handle a blossoming smallpox outbreak that starts in Europe and rapidly spreads overseas.