Greater Freetown...

Ebola in Sierra Leone:

"Due to the number of new Ebola cases in Western Area, Western Area is now considered  an Ebola High Transmission Area. This means that certain measures have been put in place. Below are the key points:

1.       CDC have reported that 70-80% of all new Ebola cases nationally are caused by people having contact with the bodies of those who have died from Ebola, and this % is increasing.

2.       In order to reduce new infections we have to reduce the number of people who have contact with the bodies of the deceased.

3.       Now that Western Area is considered a High Transmission Area:

    a.       All deaths have to be treated as suspected Ebola deaths (even if the family know the death was caused by old-age or another illness).

    b.      All bodies of the deceased must be removed from the community by the burial teams, ASAP, and always within 24 hours.

    c.       It is not possible to do a swab test on all bodies to learn whether the cause of death was Ebola or not before a body is removed from the home. It takes between 1-3 days to get the test results back from the labs, and 1-3 days is too long to leave the body in the house.
                                                     
          i.      If the death was caused by Ebola, the body is highly contagious and leaving it in the house will increase the risk of other members of the family getting Ebola.
                                                             
          ii.      Whether the death was caused by Ebola or another illness, it can be upsetting for families to be left with the body in the house without being able to touch it.

These are extraordinary times which call for extraordinary measures, and some difficult decisions have been made by the Freetown government leadership and the Mayor. The measures outlined above will be difficult for people, but we can all help to try and explain the reasons behind them and encourage communities to accept the above measures in order to keep themselves safe. The burial teams have been retrained in Safe, Dignified, Medical Burials. These burials do not allow anyone to wash or touch the body, but they ensure that the body is treated respectfully, and they allow for a priest or imam to read prayers and a small number (<10) of family members to observe the burial from a safe distance. The dead should be respected whilst the living are protected. 

Please help to share this information, and also to feedback any relevant information on how the new system is working (both in terms of community acceptance, and how burials are being conducted)."