| Single digit. Last week was first with single digits – 9 cases – helped by 3 zero days. Now striving for first zero week. I’d love to see it before I leave – SL’s have had hell for 12 months – over 12,000 cases, nearly 4,000 deaths, many children. 221 healthcare workers died. |  |
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 Tents galore with primary school in background |
Schools in! After a year of closure, excitement is palpable – schools open Tues! There’s been intense decommissioning of temporary (now surplus) Ebola centres – many erected on school grounds. Teams in protective gear sweated to ensure schoolyards were handed back safe and clean – many with a new coat of paint. Many workers can sustain 45mins in the suits outdoors – I lasted 25mins indoors. Some schools had many tents erected, cement paths laid, latrines dug, etc., and at handback don’t want any evidence whatsoever – major logistics!Our task is to ensure the 2000 odd HCW (all trained well in “Ebola”) are upskilled in basic “Infection Prevention & Control” before resuming their former hospital roles. NB. IPC did not exist in SL before Ebola | ||
| Burying stigma.Try as we may, it is hard to neutralize the “Ebola” stigma attached to materials reclaimed from previous Ebola centres (some in unused boxes in store). As a greenie it is hard and staff aggressively cull materials so that receivers are absolutely assured of safety, The rest is burnt or buried.
These beds didn’t pass cull. |
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| The brave haircut. Talking of hair – some aid workers go without a haircut for their deployment – after all, scissors are a “sharp”. But I am now freshly shorn as I found a barber who changed his gloves between clients and disinfected all his clippers and scissors with alcohol-spray between uses – the cut was $8 – I gave him extra $2 for getting A+ in hygiene – and asked him did he want a job in Infection Prevention! | |||
 Stayed in Port Loko IHP-DEMA Tent City again – their drone takes excellent aerials! |
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| Evidence-based decisions at the edge. In Infection Prevention and Control, we strive to ensure all our recommendations to colleagues and clients are evidence-based and guidance from CDC, WHO and our Professional Associations enables us to pretty well achieve this. This Ebola epidemic, in a poverty-stricken country, has raised questions that push us hard. I can’t thank enough our international IPC consultants here in WHO and CDC, whose combined knowledge is enabling us to make practical and safe decisions at the edge of evidence. | |||
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Best regards, Terry.PS. Strange feeling – I have just 3 weeks before my deployment ends. |
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