Universities set to reopen in two Ebola-hit countries

Higher education institutions in the three West African countries hit by Ebola have been closed for nearly a year. While the authorities in Guinea and Liberia are taking steps to open schools and institutions that were shut following the disease outbreak, officials in Sierra Leone are still monitoring the situation.

This means that universities and other educational institutions in Sierra Leone will remain closed for a while, and new admissions are likely to be affected.

Guinea’s Health Minister Remy Lamah said in Accra, Ghana, that all Guinea schools that had been closed down because of the Ebola outbreak were scheduled to reopen from Monday 19 January. “This is because the situation has improved.”

In Liberia, schools are reopening next month, according to the chargé d’affaires of the Liberian embassy in Ghana, Musu Ruhle.

The Ebola outbreak

The World Health Organization, or WHO, said the outbreak in the West Africa – with the first cases noted in March 2014 – was the largest and most complex since Ebola was first identified in 1976.

There have been more cases and deaths in this outbreak than in all others combined.

The virus spread between countries, starting in Guinea then moving across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia, then by air – one traveller only – to Nigeria, and by land in one case to Senegal. There have also been limited cases in Mali, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

According to WHO figures, there had been 21,261 cumulative cases – confirmed, probable and suspected – in the three West African countries by 14 January 2015.

There have been 8,414 deaths in the countries including 1,814 in Guinea, 3,538 in Liberia and 3,062 in Sierra Leone. There have been 825 health-care worker infections reported in the intense-transmission countries and 493 reported deaths. Fatality among all hospitalised patients has been between 57% and 60%.

“Guinea reported its lowest weekly total of new confirmed Ebola virus disease cases since the week ending 17 August 2014,” said the WHO 14 January situation report.

“Case numbers remain low in Liberia, with no confirmed cases nationally for the final two days of the week ending 11 January, and the lowest weekly total of confirmed cases since the first week of June 2014.

“Sierra Leone has now reported a decline in case incidence for the second week running, and recorded its lowest weekly total of new confirmed cases since the week ending 31 August 2014.”

The case of Sierra Leone

However, officials in Sierra Leone said the situation remained unclear and so educational institutions would stay closed. “We are monitoring the situation and will take a decision after that,” said Health Minister Foday Sawi Lahai.

Lahai added: “We have imported thermometers to be used for surveillance in schools. Once that is done and the number of cases keep falling, we would re-consider.”

A statement by the University of Sierra Leone – which like other institutions has been gravely affected by the Ebola outbreak – said that it had been unable to commence the 2014-15 session, which should have started on the first Saturday of October 2014.

“Nonetheless, it continues to hold itself in readiness to run the 2014-15 session when the situation improves. If the session begins in early 2015, it will still endeavour to run all programmes with the full cooperation of faculty, all of whom have been requested to make requisite preparations for that,” the university statement added.

University officials said they were “mindful of the anxiety of stakeholders, particularly students at this time”. There had been meetings with faculty and other staff with a view to seeing that students were actively engaged during this period.

The university had reached out to students by uploading lecturer notes on its website. It was also making efforts to provide hard copies of lectures to students. Lecture notes were being made available on CDs and some had been distributed, and attempts had been made to provide lectures through social media and the use of radio programmes.

In the case of medical students, the university said, it was making available lectures through telemedicine facilities and, where possible, it was providing audio and video materials for students.