SLHSWU concludes Ebola training
The Sierra Leone Health Services Workers Union (SLHSWU) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) has concluded a one day sensitization and education workshop on Ebola.
The workshop was held at the National Stadium Hostel on July 18th 2014 and targeted junior staff members of MOHS.
Giving a brief history of the disease, the Acting Chief Environmental Health Officer, Dr. Ansumana Sillah, traced the origin of Ebola from Congo and Sudan in 1976 when it simultaneously broke out in the two countries. He added that the disease derives its name from a river in Congo called River Ebola.
He explained that Ebola is introduced into the human system through close contact with body fluids like blood, saliva and semen and through the eating of dead infected animals.
Dr. Sillah intimated that burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play role in the transmission of Ebola. He described Ebola as a severe acute viral illness often characterized by sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, adding that this can also be followed by vomiting, Diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver failure and in some cases both internal and external bleeding might occur.
Dr. Sillah advised participants among them nursing aides, drivers, security guards and cleaners not to touch body fluids like saliva, sweat, urine, semen and other secretions and not to contact an infected person without appropriate protective wears, adding that they should stay calm, focused in protecting themselves and others from the infection. He re-echoed that Ebola virus is highly fatal and it is now within our communities and he ended by stating that infection control is every body’s business.
On her part, the Education Officer, Health Services Workers Union, Christiana Conteh, reminded health workers of their task to take care of patients and urged them to put hands on deck to eradicate the epidemic.
The Deputy Chief Nursing Officer, Haja Fatmata Mansaray, warned health workers to immediately stop the habit of treating all kinds of patients in their houses but to direct them to hospitals where professional service can be delivered.
By Abdulai Mento Kamara
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