As international response to the on-going Ebola outbreak
heightens, President Ernest Bai Koroma on Tuesday 28th October received at State House
another set of donations from China to boost government’s efforts to stop the
outbreak.
The president expressed appreciation and commended the People’s
Republic of China for their level of commitment towards halting the further
spread of the dreadful disease in the country.
President Koroma described China as a special friend that has
been supportive in many ways even prior to the Ebola outbreak in May this year.
The president recalled that China was there to support the country with food
items, equipment, personnel and laboratories, and with financial support to
government, the African Union and the United Nations to help in the execution
of the fight against Ebola.
With further aid of Eighty-Two Million United
States Dollars ($82m) to be shared among Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone,
President Koroma described the intervention as commendable, and added that this
will go a long way in further strengthening the bilateral relations between the
two countries.
He expressed profound delight for the commencement of
construction of a permanent lab to test for hemorrhagic fevers and noted that
it will go a long way in transforming the Jui Hospital into a centre for
disease control for tropical diseases in the sub-region.
“I am very pleased
with these interventions and also to let us know you are even putting in place
a plan in the form of China-Africa Public Health plan to look into our capacity
to be able to handle any future outbreaks.”
The Chief executive implored all
Sierra Leoneans to practicalize the knowledge gained through sensitization to
speedily break the chain of transmission.
Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone Zhao Yanbo in further
showcasing continued support to the country presented two cheques of Fifty
Million Leones (Le 50 M) each to bolster the work of the National Ebola
Response Center (NERC) in the fight against Ebola.
He stated that the
additional Eighty-Two Million United States Dollars ($82m) to the three most
affected countries will go towards procuring hospital beds, ambulances, pick-up
vans and personal protective gears and also strengthen the capacity of
anti-Ebola and public health experts in case management, contact tracing and
infection control.
He informed the president that China is putting plans in
place to build a centre for disease control in handling tropical diseases in
the sub-region and further organize the human resources.
It could be noted that China has been very supportive to
government efforts in halting the spread of the virus in the country.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of LEOCEM Arne Birger Johansen
donated three thousand (3000) bags of cement to help in the ongoing quest to
build more holding and treatment centers across the country.
He added that they
will continue to engage the private sector to scale up efforts and continue to
sensitize their clientele.
The Jamiul Jalil Mosque at Oldfield Street as part of their
contribution to eradicate Ebola presented a cheque of Twenty-Seven Million,
Five Hundred Thousand Leones (Le 27,500,000).
The Hizbullah Islamic Mission
also presented a cheque donation of Twenty-One Million Leones (Le 21,000,000)
to boost the fight against Ebola.
The Concept Multi Media presented seventeen cartoons of personal
protective equipment (PPEs) as their contribution to the fight against Ebola.
The General Manager Miss Gertrude Meyer stated that as a result of the
stigmatization surrounding the Ebola virus disease (EVD), they had come up with
a campaign and a drama skit to reverse that negative trend and to prove to the
world that not everybody is infected with the virus in Sierra Leone.
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