HIGHLIGHTS
In the week to 21 June 2015, there were eight confirmed Ebola cases, down from 14 cases the previous week. Cases came from the districts of Port Loko (4), Western Area (2) and Kambia (2).
The first week of the National Ebola Response Centre’s ‘Operation Northern Push’ in the hotspot districts of Port Loko and Kambia (north-west Sierra Leone) saw a major increase in social mobilization activities, screening checkpoints and services to more than a thousand people in quarantined homes and communities.
As part of efforts to support the Government surge, UNICEF is leading the UN response for social mobilization, WASH, communication, and working with WHO and UNFPA for non-Ebola health services in quarantined households. Working with NGO partners like Oxfam,
IFRC, Restless Development, and the Health for All Coalition (HFAC), an extra 1,750 social mobilizers have been trained and deployed, supported with information materials and daily radio programming. 42 UNICEF staff are now deployed to the two districts.UNICEF and partners are working to ensure all quarantined households have access to basic services, particularly WASH, while the supply and logistics team is supporting the distribution of 300 household packages (including clothes, mattress, cleaning material).
Child Protection staff are visiting quarantined homes, providing services including psycho-social support, and the education team is working in schools to promote Ebola prevention.In Western Area, social mobilization was intensified following two positive case confirmations. As part of ‘Operation Safeguard’, eight rapid response teams have been formed, covering eight zones within the affected area of Magazine Wharf.
Results from the 5-10 June 2015 measles and polio campaign and defaulter tracing for routine immunization indicate a high level of coverage, estimated at 97 percent for the measles vaccine and 98.8 percent for the oral polio vaccine.
UNICEF Sierra Leone requires a further USD 57.3 million of the USD 178 million requested for its response to the Ebola crisis, until the end of June 2015. To date, USD 120.5 million has been received – 68 percent of the total.*