Sierra Leone

by Nellie Peyton | @nelliepeyton | Thomson Reuters Foundation

Rights activists say the state should address the stigma faced by pregnant girls rather than ostracise them.

DAKAR, Aug 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Pregnant schoolgirls in Sierra Leone will be banned from classes and exams despite sweeping new government measures to improve access to education for all, a state spokesman said on Thursday.

Paul Jawor, an MSF water and sanitation (WATSAN) expert based in Barcelona, has been working on the post-Ebola response in Sierra Leone since 2016. His role is to ensure that MSF’s approach to water, sanitation and hygiene is up to standard.

Here, Paul recounts the progress he has seen in the Mongo and Kabala regions in the north of the country over the last three years.

By Sabrina Mahtani, Amnesty International West Africa researcher

16 August 2018, 12:39 UTC

“I felt like it was me they had killed that day,” says Asatu*, reaching for a piece of multi-coloured cloth to wipe away her tears. Exactly two years ago today, her 16-year-old son was shot by the police as he came home from school.

By Zoe Tabary

LONDON, Aug 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sierra Leone's capital Freetown must tackle deforestation, poor housing and decrepit drainage if it is to prevent the next disaster, its mayor said one year after a devastating mudslide killed an estimated 1,000 people and left thousands of others homeless.

Rapid urbanisation in the growing city is driving residents to claim "any trees and land they can find" to build homes, making landslides and flooding more likely in times of heavy rain, said Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki Sawyerr.

Certain events in our lives are so momentous that we shall always remember where we were and what we did when those events occurred. Many of us will surely remember where we were in the early hours of 14 August 2017, when we received the news of the mudslide in Regent. It turned out to be one of the worst natural disaster in Africa in recent years, and there is no doubt that the impact on the individuals affected and on the community was both dramatic and profound.

Fresh from an electoral cycle, Sierra Leone is slowly transitioning into a new political climate. Although the elections were largely peaceful, instances of alleged politically motivated violence were seen across the country. Intimidation, harassment, and hate speech resulted in internal displacements and injuries, and drew lines of division. Many of the victims of the violence resulting from these actions were women and children.

By Harriet Mason, Communications Officer, UNICEF Sierra Leone

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – After a 20-minute-walk up a steep rocky path in the Dwarzark community, I arrived at the new home of Foday and Mamiesia Kallon and their 14-month-old son. It’s a fresh start following the tragic events of 14 August 2017 when flooding and a landslide killed at least 500 people in Freetown, and swept away part of the Kallon’s family home and all their belongings.

Women’s political participation calls for a much more robust approach that will not only make women’s voices heard but also strategically position women in political leadership and public decision-making roles.

• Over three years after Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free, people are still reluctant to visit health centres.

• In a country where maternal mortality is among the highest in the world and children die from malaria and malnutrition, seeking care still means traveling far and paying for expensive drugs and services without any certainty of being cured.

• To gain people’s trust in the health system, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is training local staff, providing medical stocks and reaching out to far-flung communities.

In Numbers
- 203.1 mt of food assistance distributed
- US$ 0 cash based transfers made
- US$ 7,914,883 six months (May-Oct 2018) net funding requirements, representing 64% of total

Operational Updates

By KEMO CHAM

Researchers in Sierra Leone have found a new strain of the Ebola virus, the government said on Thursday.

The virus was discovered in bats in northern Bombali region by scientists in a joint US-West African study funded by USAid.

The finding comes two years after end of the worst-ever Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

But researchers say the new Bombali virus is distinct from other Ebola virus strains and it is not yet known whether it could develop into the deadly disease.

In Numbers

• 179.6 mt of food assistance distributed
• US$ 0 cash based transfers made
• US$ 7,914,883 six months (May-Oct 2018) net funding requirements, representing 64% of total
• 17,176 people assisted in May 2018

Operational Updates

Regaining old glories Sierra Leone rebuilds its climate services from the ashes of war using new technologies to provide early warnings for vulnerable communities

By Climate Adaptation UNDP

Back in 1929, Sierra Leone served as the headquarters of the British West African Meteorological Services. With independence, the Sierra Leone Meteorological Department was formed. It was one of the most advanced meteorological departments in West Africa, with advanced capacity in weather data collection, analysis and service provision.

Sierra Leone had made hard-fought gains in public health, including improving maternal care and reducing child mortality caused by malaria, when the Ebola virus outbreak erupted in 2014. The disease, which killed nearly 4,000 people, overwhelmed the country’s health systems, interrupting prevention and treatment for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and increasing the number of deaths from these diseases.

The Department for International Development (DFID) leads the UK’s global efforts to end extreme poverty, deliver the Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs) and tackle a wide range of global development challenges. The UK’s focus and international leadership on economic development is a vital part of Global Britain - harnessing the potential of new trade relationships, creating jobs and channelling investment to the world’s poorest countries. Throughout history, sustained, job-creating growth has played the greatest role in lifting huge numbers of people out of grinding poverty.

Sierra Leone: New government must prioritize ending police crackdowns on peaceful protesters

The new government of Sierra Leone must start fulfilling its promises to improve the human rights situation in the country by lifting restrictions on peaceful demonstrations and ending entrenched impunity for police killings of protesters, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.

I’ve lived in Sierra Leone all my life, including during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 that left communities battered and hopelessness. Today people here are finding a way to heal and to address community issues, which is leading to resiliency, and, ultimately, stronger community-based systems that meet people’s needs.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa had the same psychological effects on individuals as war.

Health sector response mounted, including preparations for targeted vaccine campaign

FREETOWN, June 14 2018 - The Ministry of Health and Sanitation today declared a measles outbreak in Falaba district in the remote northern part of Sierra Leone. There have been a total of 19 confirmed cases this week in the Chiefdoms of Sulima (14 cases) and Mongo (5 cases), close to the border with Guinea.

A measles outbreak is defined as three or more laboratory confirmed cases in a community or district in one month.

The quarterly Sierra Leone Market Price Bulletin provides updates on price changes for staple food commodities in Sierra Leone. This information can be used to guide programme and policy decisions by development actors. It can also assist smallholder farmers to plan agricultural and marketing activities.