Sierra Leone lockdown will not help halt Ebola: MSF
By Umaru Fofama and David Lewis
Reuters.com
Mon Sep 8, 2014
(Reuters) – Sierra Leone’s proposed countrywide “lockdown” will not help control an Ebola outbreak and could lead to the disease spreading further as cases are concealed, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Saturday.
The government will restrict residents to the areas around their homes for three days from Sept. 19 in a bid to halt new infections and help health workers track down people suffering from the disease, the information ministry said on Saturday.
“It has been our experience that lockdowns and quarantines do not help control Ebola as they end up driving people underground and jeopardizing the trust between people and health providers,” MSF said.
“This leads to the concealment of potential cases and ends up spreading the disease further,” added the group, which has been helping fight the world’s biggest outbreak of the disease across West Africa.
An Ebola outbreak that was first identified in Guinea in March has since spread across much of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Cases have also been registered in Nigeria and Senegal and the World Health Organization says more than 2,100 people have died.
