According to a statement, Sierra Leone initiated an Ebola vaccination campaign to prevent a new outbreak in the West African country.
The campaign starts on Wednesday with the country taking proactive measures to protect people at high risk of infection from potential cross-border disease transmission from ongoing outbreak in neighbouring Guinea.
The World Health Organization reports that preventive Ebola vaccination will continue in the next few days in several districts that share borders with Guinea (WHO).
Some 16,000 people in selected border districts were vaccinated and will receive two doses of vaccine administered approximately eight weeks apart.
Steven Velabo Shongwe, representative of WHO Sierra Leone, said in a statement on Wednesday, “This strong partnership, under the leadership of the Ministry for Health and Sanitation is a strategic move towards protecting the health of the population in Sierra Leone and a clear demonstration of concern and care for frontline workers who may be at risk.”
Last week, the DRC announced a 12th outbreak of Ebola — three months after the first case had been reported in the province of North Kivu.
It struck more than 11,300 people and infected approximately 28,600 people as Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone swept through the epidemic in 2014.
Ebola, a tropical fever first found in Sudan and in the DRC in 1976, is passed on to humans from wild animals.
A continuous Ebola outbreak is currently occurring in the West African country of Guinea, which started in February.
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