Orange completes acquisition of mobile operator Airtel in Sierra Leone

Orange announces today that, together with its Senegal-based partner Sonatel, it has completed the acquisition of 100% of the mobile operator Airtel in Sierra Leone. Since the signature of an agreement with Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV (“Airtel”) in January 2016, Orange has obtained all the official approbations necessary to complete this transaction.

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WHO statement on the end of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone as delivered by the WHO Representative in Sierra Leone, Dr Anders Nordström

Today, 7 November 2015, the World Health Organization declares the end of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. Since Sierra Leone recorded the first Ebola case on 24 May 2014, a total number of 8,704 people were infected and 3,589 have died. From those who tragically lost their lives, 221 of them were healthcare workers. We remember them all today.

If only Maxwell Khobe could live, again

I’m sure you’ll agree with me that being brave in a chosen career is way better than serving as an elected public office holder who courts attention, be it unconsciously, and unmerited accolades for achieving a tiny fraction of the set goals needed by a constituency.

Davos: UN launches $1 billion appeal for global Ebola response

The United Nations has appealed for $1 billion needed for the first six months of 2015 to sustain the momentum to stamp out Ebola in West Africa, where ‘the epidemic has started to turn’ in all three of the worst-hit countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

No new Ebola cases in most parts of Liberia last week – UN

The United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) yesterday welcomed encouraging statistics recently released by Liberia’s Minister of health and Social Welfare that reported that 12 of the country’s 15 counties have had no new cases within the past seven days.

Sierra Leone Ebola Outbreak Update —January 19, 2015

DISCHARGED CASES • Total Survived and Discharged Cases = 2,145 NEW CASES • New Confirmed cases = 20 as follows: Kailahun = 0, Kenema = 0, Kono = 0 Bombali = 1, Kambia = 2, Koinadugu = 0, Port Loko = 10, Tonkolili = 0 Bo = 0, Bonthe = 0, Moyamba = 0, Pujehun = 0 Western Area Urban = 5, Western Area Rural = 2, Missing = 0

Note: Missing = sample which could not be traced to a district due to wrong information or data on lab forms

CUMULATIVE CASES • Cumulative confirmed cases = 7,917 as follows: Kailahun = 565, Kenema = 498, Kono = 235 Bombali = 979, Kambia = 140, Koinadugu = 103, Port Loko = 1,292, Tonkolili = 442 Bo = 314, Bonthe = 5, Moyamba = 202, Pujehun = 31 Western Area Urban = 1,999, Western Area Rural = 1,098, Missing = 14

CUMULATIVE DEATHS • Total cumulative confirmed death is 2,780 • Probable cases = 287
• Probable deaths = 208 • Suspected cases = 2,158 • Suspected deaths = 158

Ebola Virus Disease Situation Report

PROVIDED BY: 
The Ministry of Health and Sanitation

Sierra Leone

(Archive) Getting to chat with a sitting West African Vice President

Here is a modified version of a chat I had with Sierra Leone’s former Vice President, Solomon Ekuma Berewa (now a respectful elder statesman) around this time in 2007. As the sitting VP and his party’s flagbearer for a coming election some months later in the year, the words he shared on the fateful morning are still living with me. I believe they’ll still be even after he might have departed to the great beyond. Most importantly, I learnt a key lesson about politics in West Africa which has stayed with me ever since.

Chinese see ‘danger’ and ‘opportunity’ in (Ebola) crisis. What do West Africans see?

I like Wu Jianmin, a former Chinese ambassador to the United States who now advises his country’s foreign ministry, particularly for his stance in defence of his compatriots when asked a question by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour regarding a purportedly callous attitude of some Chinese businesspeople who tend to place moneymaking above life-saving in West Africa.

Post-Ebola rebuilding to be bigger than for decade-long war – Sierra Leone Minister

In her presentation at a 3-day symposium at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University on Thursday with the title “The Ebola Outbreak: Challenges and Next Steps For the Future”, Sierra Leone’s Deputy Health Minister posits that the country’s post Ebola rebuilding effort will be bigger than that of the concluded eleven years civil war.

Sierra Leone Ebola Outbreak Update —January 16, 2015

DISCHARGED CASES – • Total Survived and Discharged Cases = 2,127  NEW CASES – • New Confirmed cases = 6 as follows: Kailahun = 0, Kenema = 0, Kono = 1 Bombali = 0, Kambia = 1, Koinadugu = 0, Port Loko = 0, Tonkolili = 0 Bo = 0, Bonthe = 0, Moyamba = 1, Pujehun = 0  Western Area Urban = 2, Western Area Rural = 1, Missing = 0

The brutality of the Ebola virus: a harrowing account by survivors

Sheriff Mahmud Ismail – The Ebola virus disease is a very painful ailment. It usually starts with headache, as the patient’s condition deteriorates; the pain spreads through the body, muscle ache, fatigue and loss of appetite set in.  Stooling and vomiting then follows, causing hunger and dehydration. Weakened by pain, starvation and thirst, the patient now becomes like a punch bag to the virus- helpless! As the wicked disease continues to mercilessly inflict more agony, bleeding and bloody diarrhea herald the ghastly terminal manifestations of a battered immunity. No wonder the high mortality associated with the Ebola virus.

Former British High Commissioner, Peter Penfold, writes on Ebola in Sierra Leone

I have now been here two weeks. During my last visit in April the first cases of ebola had appeared. Deaths had been reported in Sierra Leone and before that in the neighboring countries of Guinea and Liberia. Only MSF (Medicins Sans Frontieres) were warning of the seriousness of the outbreak but at the time no one was heeding the warnings, neither the local governments nor the international community. Since then the ebola virus has ravaged this part of West Africa.

Ebola outbreak may contribute to 60% crumble of Gambia’s economy despite no reported case

Though The Gambia remains completely free of Ebola, the crisis has caused a deep decline in tourism related activities, the economy’s principal foreign currency earner. A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Bhaswar Mukhopadhyay, visited Banjul from January 8-14, 2015 to assess the effects of this shock to the Gambian economy and explored the possibility of agreeing on a Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) arrangement with the IMF.

UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) – External Situation Report – 15 January 2015

KEY POINTS
 President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone reportedly predicted that his country would be Ebola-free by May.
 WHO announced that Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have recorded their lowest weekly number of new cases for months.
 The Logistics Cluster will provide an additional free-of-charge flight at a date to be determined.

Sierra Leone’s AMISOM troops return

Sierra Leone troops returning from the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have started arriving in Freetown.

The first batch of 116 personnel landed last night at the  Lungi International Airport on board a Jordanian aircraft.

The troops were received at the airport in Freetown by the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier John Milton; the Assistant Chief of Defence Staff for Operations and Plans, Brigadier Mamadi Keita; and other senior officers.

The repatriation of the Sierra Leone contingent will continue until 22nd January, 2015 when the last batch arrives.

Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone: World Bank reports point to declines in employment, food insecurity, and long-term welfare concerns

The socio-economic impacts of Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone are far-reaching and persistent, according to two new World Bank Group reports. Both countries continue to experience job losses, despite their differing health outlooks. These impacts have not been limited to the areas where infections have been the highest, which points to economy-wide slowdowns. As a result, many households have been forced to take short-term actions to cope, which can have substantial long-term effects on welfare.

Ebola: Liberia deploys team to Sierra Leone

According to reports from the Liberian news agency, a 20-member Ebola team has been deployed from the country to neighbouring Sierra Leone, a move described by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as “wonderful and good news that must be celebrated.”

The Holy See intensifies fight against Ebola

The Pontifical Council “Justice and Peace” today publishes its document “Expanding the Catholic Church’s commitment to the Ebola emergency response”, in which it describes for the first time its pastoral response to a relatively new disease which has devastated communities above all in the countries of Western Africa, especially Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Most intense Ebola transmission in West Africa reported in western Sierra Leone – UN

The number of Ebola cases is fluctuating in Guinea, decreasing in Liberia and showing signs the increase has slowed in Sierra Leone, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported today as the UN development agency said it is helping the Liberian Government build border posts to cut the cross-border spread of infection in West Africa.

UN wants debt relief for Ebola hard-hit countries

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) today recommended that creditors should seriously consider debt cancellation for the countries worst-hit by the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.