Highlights
As of 27 January 2016, two new cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Sierra Leone. On 14 January 2016, the first confirmed case of Ebola was announced in the district of Tonkolili. The new case stems from a 22 year old female who died on 12 January 2016. While symptomatic, the index case traveled to Port Loko and Kambia, resulting in quarantined communities across the three districts. The aunt of the index case, who took care of her and was placed under quarantine, was also confirmed positive on 20 January 2016.
Although the announcement of the new case was disappointing, the response mechanism under the leadership of the Office of National Security was rapidly activated. UNICEF was identified by the InterAgency Rapid Response Team as Incident Manager to lead the response in the field (Tonkolili and Kambia), in collaboration with WHO (Incident Commander – based in Freetown).
Within the first 24 hours of the event notification, UNICEF rapidly mobilized to support the response and quarantined communities by deploying key personnel and supplies to the affected districts. To date, supplies with a total value of US$333,454 have been dispatched to the affected districts (including tents, CCC rapid response kits, WASH, Education and Child Protection supplies).
Situation in numbers
As of 27 January 2016
8,706 Confirmed cases of Ebola
3,590 Confirmed deaths from Ebola
1,459 Confirmed cases of infected children under age 18 registered by MSWGCA
8,624 Registered children who lost one or both parents due to Ebola
UNICEF funding needs to March 2016 USD 5 million