Ebola, Running Ahead

On 29 March, Mohamed Sankoh Yillah shows his survivors’ identification, in the city of Kenema in Kenema District. Mr. Yillah, who was infected during the early days of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak, is the president of the Ebola Survivors Organization and part of a social mobilization team raising community awareness about EVD and distributing soap to households during the three-day stay-at-home curfew. He is also speaking out against the discrimination faced by EVD survivors. He is also an outreach Ebola health worker at Kenema Government Hospital – where he had worked before contracting the disease. From 27 to 29 March 2015 in Sierra Leone, a government-led stay-at-home curfew was held as part of the four-week Zero Ebola campaign to end infections in the country. The curfew was intended to re-energize Sierra Leoneans in the fight against Ebola virus disease (EVD). Health workers, surveillance officers and social mobilizers all played a role in the curfew, which provided an opportunity to teach communities about behaviours that contribute to the continued spread of EVD; to raise awareness of best practices that help prevent transmission of EVD (such as handwashing with water and soap); and to carry out door-to-door surveillance and contact tracing that allowed cases of EVD to be found, isolated and treated. UNICEF helped develop and supervise training for the social mobilizers and coordinate the mobilization efforts; procured soap distributed by the mobilizers during door-to-door outreach; and delivered water to some communities during the curfew.