Foreign leaders discussing solutions to the Ebola epidemic must acknowledge the contribution made by local workers to reduce infection rates
It’s almost a year since I first heard reports of mysterious infections and deaths from Kailahun, a district on Sierra Leone’s eastern border with Guinea and Liberia. Back in those first weeks, as we realised we were dealing with Ebola – an unknown challenge for Sierra Leone – the message heard in those isolated, scared and sceptical communities was that “Ebola is real”.
Unfortunately, that message took another couple of months to get through to the international community, with well-known consequences. So, as those same leaders and institutions gather in Brussels on Tuesday to agree on how to finish the job and foster a recovery, it’s up to Sierra Leoneans and other west Africans to call on them not to make the same mistakes again.
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