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Sierra Leone turns into the first nation, among these most severely affected ten years ago by the West Africa Ebola outbreak, to launch nationwide preventive Ebola vaccination, targeting 20,000 frontline workers who will receive a single dose of Ebola vaccine
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The campaign comes one decade after the 2014 Ebola PHEIC – the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history – during which Sierra Leone was the nation hardest-hit, including the loss of 7% of its health care personnel
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With the virus presenting an ongoing threat in endemic regions, preventive Ebola vaccination will offer protection to frontline workers, communities and health programs in advance, helping mitigate the impact of future outbreaks
Freetown/Sierra Leone, December 4, 2024 – The next day – one decade after the deadliest Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in history wreaked havoc on the nation and its health care personnel – Sierra Leone will develop into the first nation, among the three most severely affected ten years ago by the West Africa Ebola outbreak, to launch a nationwide preventive Ebola vaccination campaign targeting frontline workers. The campaign, applied by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health (MOH) in partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, will target 20,000 frontline workers in all 16 districts across the nation.
A single dose of the Ebola vaccine Ervebo will doubtless be administered to health care professionals, frontline workers and first responders such as bike riders/ambulance drivers, traditional healers, religious leaders, security forces and others who are at excessive threat of being uncovered to EVD. Vaccines are offered from the Gavi-funded global vaccine stockpile administered by the International Coordinating Staff (ICG) on Vaccine Provision. Gavi is also providing funding for implementing the vaccination campaign, with technical assistance assist to the MOH offered by WHO and UNICEF.
This preventive vaccination campaign comes one decade after the deadly 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak, which was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Drawback (PHEIC) by WHO. That outbreak resulted in extra than 11,000 deaths, primarily in West Africa, but cases were detected in 10 international locations around the world. Of these, Sierra Leone was the hardest hit, with shut to 9,000 confirmed cases and probable cases, including shut to 4,000 deaths. Alongside the devastating loss of lifestyles and long-ranging financial impacts, the outbreak affected Sierra Leone’s health gadget deeply: killing nearly 7% of the health care personnel, who were as a lot as 32 occasions extra liable to be infected by Ebola than the general adult population, according to WHO.
“This nationwide preventive vaccination campaign marks a significant step in strengthening our health gadget. Protecting our frontline workers is vital to our National Health Safety Plan, ensuring preparedness and resilience against future health threats. Right here is an investment in the safety of our of us and a healthier Sierra Leone,” said Dr Austin Demby, Minister of Health, Sierra Leone.
At the time of the 2014 West Africa outbreak, there were no approved vaccines. Gavi took immediate action to incentivize rapid fashion and production, announcing its commitment to purchase eligible vaccines and later signing an agreement to steady 300,000 investigational doses of Ervebo, and funding their exhaust by international locations and partners to answer outbreaks – helping demonstrate the near 100% efficacy of the vaccine. In 2021, Gavi agreed to fund a global stockpile of 500,000 doses of Ebola vaccine. This stockpile is managed by the ICG, with doses procured by UNICEF, and it is accessible to any nation in the world. Since then, nearly 146,000 doses have been shipped from the stockpile thru 2023, 95% have been repurposed for preventive vaccination of excessive-threat groups, and 5% used in outbreak response.
Many of us bear in mind the fear and devastation that the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the deadliest in memory, caused around the world. One decade later, vaccination has transformed our ability to battle one of the world’s deadliest diseases,” said Dr Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “Gavi is incredibly proud of how our mission to make pace that well timed and equitable access to vaccines against the most significant infectious disease threats has helped redefine Ebola response, saving lives and protecting communities, health programs and economies. To have the first nationwide preventive vaccination campaign take place in the nation most deeply impacted by the 2014 outbreak makes this historic milestone powerful extra meaningful. We commend Sierra Leone and our Alliance partners for their continued commitment to protecting these most at threat, and thought forward to the vaccines being rolled out in other at-threat international locations.”
Following the EVD outbreak in Guinea in February 2021, WHO performed a rapid threat assessment, which classified the regional threat of spread as excessive. In response, WHO supported governments to place in power immediate preventive measures such as enhanced surveillance, strengthened screening at border points, sturdy neighborhood engagement, deployment of Rapid Response Teams to frame areas to bolster district preparedness, and scaling up capacities for testing and treatment facilities.
“Although three years have passed since the last EVD outbreak in neighbouring Guinea, WHO has remained dedicated to collaborating with partners and vaccine manufacturers to make pace that the availability of extremely effective, lifestyles-saving vaccines for populations most at threat in Sierra Leone. These sustained efforts and partnerships have resulted in the 2024 nationwide EVD vaccination campaign, targeting health care workers, traditional healers, bike taxi riders and other frontline workers,” explained Dr Thompson Igbu, Head of the WHO Sierra Leone Expanded Programme on Immunization team.
WHO has offered technical, logistical and funding assist for implementation of the vaccination train, including the training of health care workers in readiness of the vaccination train.
Rudolf Schwenk, UNICEF Representative in Sierra Leone, said, “This lifestyles-saving vaccine provides communities and frontline workers new hope for safety against this deadly disease. UNICEF, working carefully with the Ministry of Health and WHO, is an integral part of this nationwide campaign to make pace that that the vaccines are safely kept and delivered to key target groups including health workers. And we appreciate Gavi’s critical contribution to protecting families from lifestyles-threatening diseases love Ebola.”
UNICEF procured and delivered the over 20,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine to Sierra Leone. The wintry chain gadget, built with assistance from UNICEF and WHO, stores the vaccine in ultra-low temperature freezers, which is essential to maintaining its potency. These efforts are combined with neighborhood engagement and threat communication activities to increase vaccine uptake, minimize hesitancy and acquire have confidence.
Other international locations including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Guinea-Bissau have also goal lately performed preventive vaccination campaigns. The subsequent nation planning to roll out preventive Ebola vaccination is the Central African Republic (timing to be determined), with other at-threat international locations also considering the timing of their implementation. In total, 18 international locations that have beforehand reported EVD cases or that share a border with a nation that has experienced an EVD outbreak are eligible for the Gavi preventive vaccination programme, which aims to intention additional safety in the areas an Ebola outbreak is presumably to occur.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Sierra Leone, alongside Liberia and Guinea, was among the three international locations most severely affected by the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak.
- More details on Sierra Leone, Ebola and Preventive Ebola vaccination, including links to additional assets, are available in this Gavi factsheet.
- Multimedia express from Sierra Leone and other international locations impacted by Ebola, including photos, interviews and b-roll, is available right here.
About Ministry of Health, Sierra Leone
The Ministry of Health (MOH) of Sierra Leone is the authorities body accountable for overseeing public health and medical services and products across the nation. Guided by its vision of achieving universal health coverage, the MOHS is dedicated to ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare services and products for all citizens. Key functions of the ministry include developing and implementing health policies, coordinating responses to public health emergencies, promoting preventive care, and strengthening the health gadget to address latest and emerging health challenges. The Ministry works in collaboration with international partners, non-governmental organisations, and local communities to assist health outcomes, prioritising areas such as maternal and child health, disease prevention, and health infrastructure fashion.
About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate extra than half the world’s teenagers against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing nation and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Invoice & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. Behold the fleshy listing of donor governments and other leading organisations that fund Gavi’s work right here.
Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a entire generation – over 1.1 billion teenagers – and averted extra than 18.8 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 78 lower-income international locations. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health programs as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of development, Gavi is now thinking about protecting the subsequent generation, above all the zero-dose teenagers who have no longer obtained even a single vaccine shot. The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save lives, stay outbreaks earlier than they can spread and assist international locations on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn extra at www.gavi.org and join with us on Facebook and X (Twitter).
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged teenagers. Across extra than 190 international locations and territories, we work for every child, far and vast, to acquire a greater world for all people. As part of its assist to the health sector in Sierra Leone, UNICEF continues to intention critical technical assist, including funding and vaccine management guidelines, to make pace that the rollout of vaccination campaigns, including Ebola, to the most at-threat communities across the nation. For extra information about UNICEF and its work for teenagers in Sierra Leone, visit https://www.unicef.org/sierraleone or apply us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
About WHO
Dedicated to the well-being of all of us and guided by science, the World Health Organization leads and champions global efforts to offer everybody, far and vast an equal chance at a safe and healthy lifestyles. We are the UN agency for health that connects nations, partners and of us on the front lines in 150+ locations – leading the world’s response to health emergencies, preventing disease, addressing the root causes of health disorders and expanding access to medicines and health care. Our mission is to advertise health, maintain the world safe and attend the vulnerable.
For extra information about WHO in Sierra Leone, visit https://www.afro.who.int/international locations/sierra-leone Visit www.who.int and apply WHO on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube.
For media queries, requests for interviews, and additional information, contact:
Harold Thomas, Ministry of Health
+232 766 024 60
health.education [at] mohs.gov.sl (health[dot]education[at]mohs[dot]gov[dot]sl)
Eunice Kilonzo-Muraya, Gavi
+41 76 424 85 03
ekilonzo [at] gavi.org (ekilonzo[at]gavi[dot]org)
Meg Sharafudeen, Gavi
+41 Seventy nine 711 55 54
msharafudeen [at] gavi.org (msharafudeen[at]gavi[dot]org)
Madlyn Sharkah, WHO Sierra Leone
+232 73623665 / +232 76242407
sharkahm [at] who.int (sharkahm[at]who[dot]int)
Suzanne Wooster, UNICEF Sierra Leone
+ 232 76 601 310
swooster [at] unicef.org (swooster[at]unicef[dot]org)
