By State House Communications Unit
President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma on Wednesday 15th October
received the administrator of the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), Mr. Rajiv Shaw and Norwegian delegation at State House.
The delegation is in the country to support the acceleration of the Ebola
response and to work on specific points raised during President Koroma’s video
conference to the World Bank Breakfast Meeting in America.
President Koroma assured the delegation that Sierra Leone will
not export Ebola to any country as the disease is not something anybody wants.
He noted that Ebola is a global issue and expressed strong belief that what is
needed at this time is to strengthen security measures at the country’s
airport.
The president stated that at a critical time like this there is
an urgent need for more treatment centers, care centers and the strengthening
of social mobilization across the country. He further underscored the importance
of increasing the laboratory capacity of the country to reverse the delay and
reactions from communities. “We need to ramp up our lab capacity that can
handle 500 to 600 samples a day and it requires to be done quicker,” he said.
He also pointed out that as a government, it is timely to take a close look at
the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) and restructure it for it to be more
effective with the aim to get decisions implemented quickly. “As we work
earnestly together to move ahead of the virus, we must quickly harness and step
up our efforts to address the challenges in order to break the chain of
transmission,” he stressed.
President Koroma observed that it will be of immense help to
effectively engage the youth in the various communities together with the local
authorities to pass on the appropriate messages to the people. To ease up the
pressure, the president stated, family education and person to person messaging
must be cascaded to the local level. He also emphasized the need to put on hold
certain cultural practices that have been identified as a major means of
infection.
The Administrator of the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), Mr. Rajiv Shaw said that the team is in the country to
discuss specific ideas that have been championed by the country’s approach in
the fight against Ebola, citing issues raised by President Koroma during the
video conference to the World Bank Breakfast Meeting in America. He quoted
President Obama’s statement saying that Ebola is both a threat to national
security and global health. With this, he further disclosed that the United
States has pledged an additional support of One Hundred and Forty-Two Million
($USD142 Million) United States Dollars to support the acceleration of the
fight against Ebola.
The Norwegian Foreign
Minister, Mr. Borge Brende said that they are in the country to show solidarity
as Ebola is not only an issue of Sierra Leone but also a global issue that
requires a global response. He informed President Koroma that additional
doctors and nurses will be in the country; provide medical intervention,
medical equipment, beds and logistical support and to fully engage the
president on how to contain the situation
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