In the early days of the Ebola virus disease crisis, between May and September 2014, hundreds of bodies were buried in the Kingtom Cemetery without grave markers or headstones. Hand-written ledgers and notebooks were maintained by the Cemetery staff but the record keeping was scant and inadequate. Many families don’t know where their loved ones are buried.
On Friday 21st July 2018, the CDC, E-Health, Concern Worldwide and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation launched a database of names and grave numbers. The database is called, the Sierra Leone Ebola Database Reunification program.
A phone line, at 375 or 079613375, has been set up and will be operated from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday to Thursday and till noon on Fridays.
The Director of Health Security and Emergencies, Dr. T.T. Samba, said, “The fight against the Ebola epidemic was won as a result of the collective efforts of many stakeholders. During the response mechanism, various organizations and agencies were able to develop and use data.” He said the Sierra Leone Ebola Database (SLED) will link records from various sources obtained during the Ebola Virus disease in 2014-2016.
Dr. Samba underscored that access to SLED data through the Research Data Centre will protect data ownership by MOHS and assure confidentiality of data use for research purposes, adding that such work will increase the country’s public health research capacity.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Amara Jambai, said, “Sierra Leone has one of the most comprehensive Ebola databases with the help of CDC.
The Country Director of CDC, Dr. Tushar Singh, said most of the data was collected in spreadsheets, noting that there were thousands of records.
Giving an over view of the SLED project, the Coordinator of SLED, Yelena Gorina, said amongst their goals was to reunite families with the graves of their loved ones.
She said 290 variables were used and amongst the categories of data collected were hotline 117 alerts with 239,853 records collected and Viral hemorrhagic fever system which is 101,716 collected.
MJB/21/7/18
By Mohamed J. Bah
Thursday July 26, 2018.
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