Sierra Leone hopes to fight off Ebola with three-day lockdown

In her free time Isha Turay, an 18-year-old Sierra Leonean student, sells vegetables on Malama Thomas Street in the heart of the bustling capital, Freetown, so that she and her siblings can eat.

But for three days, starting at midnight yesterday, her stand will be abandoned during a nationwide lockdown aimed at helping Sierra Leone fight an outbreak of Ebola ravaging the country and the region.

“If we don’t sell, we cannot eat,” Turay said, splashing water over a stack of carrots to keep them fresh in the searing afternoon heat. “We don’t know how we can survive in this lockdown. More suffering.”

Sierra Leone’s government says extreme measures are needed to try to contain the world’s worst outbreak of Ebola but many fear it will bring more hardship to a nation that is already one of the poorest.

Critics question whether it will be effective. Over 2,600 people have been killed across West Africa, about half the number infected. The World Health Organisation says the world must act fast to keep cases in the tens of thousands.

Illness and information

Initially a plan to locate the ill, Sierra Leone’s lockdown will seek to make people aware of the risks of Ebola and what to do if a family member falls sick, the government says.

As about 30,000 volunteers train for their dawn-to-dusk information campaign, residents flocked to high-end supermarkets and, between downpours, street stalls to buy food and medicine. Queues formed along streets as people stocked up on fuel. Banks, already operating at reduced hours to limit infections, overflowed as clients withdrew cash.

Some say a few days hardship is a price worth paying if it contributes to halting the march of Ebola across a nation only a decade into its recovery from an 11-year civil war that killed 50,000. “It’s better to stay at home for three days, even 21 days, than to lose thousands of people in a single day,” said Freetown resident Mahawa Allieu. “It’s very important, necessary and called for.”

However, critics argue a public information campaign is not what is needed, months into a battle against Ebola that most in Sierra Leone are aware of.

Barry Andrews, chief executive of Irish aid agency Goal, called the move "an ill-conceived exercise in futility": "I'm not sure a public information campaign requires the draconian measure of three days' locking six million people into their homes," he said. "It puts terrible pressure on vulnerable people. People who live hand tomouth will find it difficult."

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières, which has led efforts on the ground to fight Ebola, has warned the lockdown risked further undermining trust in health workers.

This outbreak was initially confirmed in March in Guinea's remote southeastern forest. From there, it spread, slowly at first, across the country and into Liberia and Sierra Leone.

With fragile local health systems overwhelmed and the world slow to react, the disease has taken hold in towns and cities. Infections are increasing exponentially.

Hospitals are turning away cases and, in recognition of the scale of the threat, the US government this week pledged to send 3,000 troops to the region to build new treatment centres and train medical personnel.

Stephen Gaojia, co-ordinator of the Emergency Operations Centre that runs the Ebola response in Sierra Leone, said 30,000 volunteers, split into teams of four, will go house-to-house spreading information about Ebola.

Lack of trust

Fear of the disease and a lack of trust in government health systems have been partly blamed for Ebola’s spread. In response, Sierra Leone’s parliament passed a law making it illegal to shelter Ebola patients at home. But Gaojia said this would not be enforced during the lockdown. “Team members will not take out Ebola-infected or other sick people,” he said.

The government is hoping to spread a message of hope despite Ebola being one of the world’s deadliest diseases.

In a nation where so many struggle to eke out an existence, preparations are being made for some of those most in need. Two hundred children who usually sleep rough will spend the three days in a temporary shelter, where they will be provided with food.

Others, like Abdul, a Freetown street beggar paralysed from the waist down, will have to fend for themselves. – (Reuters)