Ebola on the wane, Sierra Leone braces for a whole new crisis

WASHINGTON POST  by Todd C. Frankel                                                        April 16, 2015

Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma was ready to talk about something besides Ebola.

Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma, left, and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf listen as U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a statement to the news media in the Cabinet Room at the White House April 15, 2015 in Washington, DC. Obama and his counterparts discussed their progress in the fight against the Ebola virus and their efforts to create long-term economic recovery for the West African countries. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

His West African nation is not yet Ebola-free. It is still fighting to rid itself of the feared pathogen, which has killed more than 10,000 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia since March 2014. But today the number of new Ebola cases in Sierra Leone has slowed to a trickle. The country recorded just seven new confirmed infections last week. Last November, Sierra Leone was reporting 550 new cases a week.

“With the slower pace,” Koroma said, “we are given space to look beyond Ebola.”...

Koroma told The Washington Post that he was seeking assurances that the world will help Sierra Leone and the other nations regain their economic footing from the devastating blow delivered by Ebola.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/16/ebola-on-the-wane-sierra-leone-braces-for-a-whole-new-crisis/