IOM Sierra Leone

IOM Sierra Leone Ebola Response Situation Report | Issue 36 | 2-8 August 2015Gibrilla Kamara, survivor, continues to inspireGibrilla Kamara, 43, isan Ebola survivor andsingle parent. He becameinfected in lateSeptember last yearwhile caring for his sickaunt, a nurse workingat the Rokupa Governmenthospital who laterdied. Within twoweeks Ebola rapidlyspread through his© IOM 2015Gibrilla Kamara, HHBM monitorin Suzan’s Bay, 6 August2015.family, claiming the lives of his uncle, his 20 year old son,16 year old daughter, 70 year old grandmother and threeother relatives. 7 other family members were infected andtaken to hospital. Gibrilla, himself spent 11 days at the MacauleyStreet Hospital holding center and was later transferredto the Hastings Treatment Center where he spent21 days before being declared Ebola free and dischargedon 10 November 2014.Upon his discharge from hospital, Gibrilla decided to helpin the fight against the Ebola virus disease.” I couldn’t imaginemyself sitting around and doing nothing” he sayscandidly. “What I went through is so painful that I am willingto help in any way possible to ensure no one else goesthrough what I did. Since I was discharged, I have beenthinking about the suffering and death I saw close to meand the pain I went through during my stay in hospital.Surviving that is a blessing that must have occurred for areason. I feel strongly that I survived so that I could contributeto something larger than myself. So I decided tojoin the fight against Ebola.”"I feel strongly that I survived so that I couldcontribute to something larger than myself.So I decided to join the fight against Ebola."— Gibrilla Kamara, HHBM MonitorIn December 2014, Gibrilla was contacted by a survivor hehad met in the holding center and asked if he would beinterested in working for IOM at the National TrainingAcademy at an expert patient simulator. Without hesitationhe immediately signed up. Speaking about and sharingexperiences with other survivors and trainees to preparehealth care workers for deployment to ETUs.This July, Gibrilla transitioned to the Health and HumanitarianBorder Management project in Freetown at Suzan’sBay as a health screening monitor at the Port Loko Wharf.“Today I am happy. Seeing the number of Ebola cases rapidlygoing down and with treatment centers now virtuallyempty, I feel proud of my contributions to end the worstepisode in our country’s history.”IOM HHBM staff greet High Level PanelThe UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon appointed aHigh-Level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crisesin May 2015. On 4-5 August the Panel visited Freetownas part of a wider trip to the worst affected countries toundertake consultations with the President of Sierra Leone,INGOs and local NGOs, survivors and the UN countryteam.The Panel arrived by helicopter from Guinea to Cockerilland was met by IOM’s Health and Humanitarian BorderManagement monitoring staff on the ground to undergo© IOM 2015© IOM 2015IOM HHBM monitors take Ms Joy Phumaphi, ExecutiveSecretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliancethrough the health screening process on 4 August 2015.health screening procedures before being escorted toState House.Panel members include Mr Celso Luiz Nunes Amorimo,former Minister of Foreign Relations and Defence Ministerof Brazil; Ms Micheline Calmy-Rey, former Presidentof the Swiss Confederation, Mr Marty Natalegawa, formerForeign Minister of Indonesia and its PermanentRepresentative to the United Nations in New York, MsJoy Phumaphi, Executive Secretary of the African LeadersMalaria Alliance and Botswana’s former Minister forHealth and Minister for Lands and Housing and Dr RajivShah, until January this year, Administrator of the UnitedStates Agency for International Development (USAID).Panel members, have been tasked by the UN SecretaryGeneral to make recommendations on how to strengthennational and international systems to prevent andmanage future health crises taking into account lessonslearned from the response to the Ebola outbreak. Thepanel will submit periodic progress reports and presentits final report at the end of December.High Level Panel delegate, former USAID AdministratorRajiv Shah arrives at Cockerill on 4 August 2015.© IOM 2015PAGE 2