As the world marks ten years since the deadliest Ebola virus disease outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is disappointed that while two approved Ebola treatments now exist, they are not readily available via an emergency stockpile for use in...
The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone was declared over on 7 November, but in neighbouring Guinea, people are still being infected by a disease which has claimed more than 11,000 lives in West Africa. But despite the unprecedented scale of the epidemic, there is still much that we do not know about...
In late November, Aminata Sankoh's mother started to fall ill. Living on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Aminata heard warnings about Ebola on the radio. But she didn't hesitate to care for her mother as she grew progressively sicker over the next seven days. By the end of the week,...
As part of its ongoing emergency response to Ebola in West Africa, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has carried out the largest-ever distribution of antimalarials in Sierra Leone, alongside the Ministry of Health. Teams distributed 1.5 million antimalarial treatments to...
In Sierra Leone, MSF is running two Ebola Case Management Centres – one in Bo and another in Kailahun – with over 1,400 staff. The Kailahun Ebola Case Management Centre was opened on 26 June 2014. To date MSF teams have admitted a more than 600 patients with confirmed Ebola, of whom 292 have...
I was in Bo district, Sierra Leone, working as a nurse in a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, health facility when the Ebola outbreak started last March 2014 in neighboring Guinea. It was only a matter of time before the first Ebola case in the country was...
Ebola – Norwegian MSF staff member infected in Sierra Leone Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) confirms that one of its international staff members in Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with Ebola hemorrhagic fever. The staff member, a Norwegian national on assignment in the city of Bo, was placed in...
Ella Watson-Stryker (USA) is currently working as Health Promoter in MSF's emergency intervention in Kailahun, Sierra Leone. She tells the story of a young girl, one of many victims of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The first time I saw Tewa* was in the triage tent. She had come to MSF's Ebola...
Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown is currently struggling to contain a cholera outbreak, which has affected over 1500 people and claimed at least 17 lives in the city. MSF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, is already running three cholera treatment units in the city, and has treated over...
On the 27th of April 2010, the Sierra Leone government will start implementing a policy of free healthcare for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and children under five. MSF welcomes the government’s commitment to the new policy and hopes that this will improve the access to healthcare for...
