In the week to 14 June 2015, there were 14 confirmed Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) cases, down from 15 cases the previous week. Cases came from the districts of Port Loko (8) and Kambia (6).
As of 16 June 2015, there have been a total of 8,651 people who have contracted EVD in Sierra Leone, of whom 3,556 have lost their lives. 19,030 children have been directly affected by the Ebola crisis, nearly half of whom have lost one or both parents.
On 16 June 2015, the National Ebola Response Centre launched a 21-day surge called ‘Operation Northern Push’ in the hotspot districts of Port Loko and Kambia (north-west Sierra Leone) to accelerate the push to zero new Ebola cases. The districts will see an increase in screening checkpoints, quarantine services, social mobilizers, as well as night-time restrictions in affected chiefdoms.
As part of efforts to support the Government surge, UNICEF is leading the UN response for social mobilization, WASH, communication, and co-leading with WHO and UNFPA for non-Ebola health services in quarantined households. An extra 1,750 extra social mobilizers are being trained and deployed, supported with information materials and daily radio programming. Extra UNICEF staff were surged to the districts, with 22 staff on the ground in Kambia and 24 in Port Loko.
UNICEF is working with partners to ensure all quarantined households have access to basic services, particularly WASH, while the Supply and Logistics team are supporting the distribution of 300 household packages (including clothes, mattress, cleaning material). Child Protection staff are visiting quarantine homes, providing services including psycho-social support, and the education team is working in schools to promote Ebola prevention.
UNICEF Sierra Leone requires a further USD 57.5 million of the USD 178 million requested for its response to the Ebola crisis, until the end of June 2015. To date, USD 120.3 million has been received – 68 per cent of the total.*