Freetown is now the new epicentre of the Ebola outbreak reporting over 150 cases last week alone.This isn't good news and we must continue to gather data to support rapid and informed upscale efforts of facility preparedness to combat Ebola spread in urban and rural Freetown.
Midwife Aminata speaking to the pregnant women on Antenatal Visit Day | Regent Community Health Centre
Despite the news not being very good, we also noted the hard work some health facilities in Freetown are doing to keep their health facilities open, especially for pregnant women and newborns. Goderich Health Centre and Regent Health Centre are maximising what little equipment or Ebola preparedness training they have to maintain a safe space for women to attend antenatal visits and better yet, to deliver in their community health facilities.
The midwives recognise the challenges and the reasonable fear surrounding the spread of Ebola, they try as much as possible to protect themselves and the women in the community they serve by ensuring they limit their services to only women registered at their community health centre. They do so also by taking extra precaution to screen patients coming into the health facility in addition to conducting community sensitisation.
We commend these health facilities and health worker’s for their efforts to keep mothers and newborns in their community safe. These are the stories that often go untold, the midwives and health workers keeping faith and working tirelessly to provide adequate health care in communities despite the dire challenges of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.