June 23, 2017 By Mohamed Massaquoi
Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh is expected to launch the Sierra Leone one Health approach programme today as strategy to fight against the spread of disease within countries of the Mano River Union including Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia at the Miatta Conference Centre in Freetown. A statement from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation state.
It could be recalled that these countries has experienced between 2014 and 2016, the worst outbreak of the Ebola Virus Diseases in history, with over 28 000 people infected, more than 11 000 deaths and national economics devastated with losses in gross domestic product in affected countries. In Sierra Leone, the disease has caused unprecedented social and humanitarian damage, accompanied by severe economic consequences; it was against this backdrop that the USAID-funded Preparedness and Response Project (P&R), part of the Emerging Pandemic Threats 2 Program and the Global Health Security Agenda, is providing support for Sierra Leone One Health programme.
The one Health programme aimed at promoting multi-sector, interdisciplinary application of knowledge and skills to address animal, human and environmental health challenges.
The initiative has been endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Global health Security Agenda (GHSA).
“The purpose of the launch of the Sierra Leone National One Health Programme is to underscore the government and partners’ commitment to address zoonotic diseases and emerging pandemic threats and to create a momentum for the institutionalization of One Health.
The platform launch represents a Milestone in Sierra Leone Global Health Security Agenda roadmap and underline the Sierra Leone Government international commitment to prevent, detect and contain threatening diseases and contagious pathogens from putting the lives of people and animal in danger, avoid their international spreading and disastrous consequences on the economy,” the release stated adding that the Minister of Health and Sanitation (MOHS), the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Safety (MAFFS), the Executive Chairperson of Environment Protection Agency (EPA), and the US Ambassador to Sierra Leone will also lend their voices to the programme.