Médecins Sans Frontières - Medical examination

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSB236513

Date taken / Date Recorded 16/06/2025 12:00 AM

Country Sierra Leone

Detailed location Calaba Town, Freetown

Commissioning section MSF-BELGIUM

Photographer / videographer / producer Noor Ahmad Saleem

Copyright Noor Ahmad Saleem/MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available yes

Project section OCB

Editor's rating ★★★★★★ (B)

Maximum Size 3008px × 2008px 1,009.48 KB

Additional Information / Shotlist On the 16th of January 2025, mpox was declared a public health emergency in Sierra Leone by the Ministry of Health. All 16 districts in the country have recorded cases of mpox with the Western Area districts; including Freetown, the capital city, identified as hotspots of the outbreak. Over 4,000 confirmed cumulative cases have been recorded in the country as of June 2025, according to the National Public Health Agency (NPHA) since the first case was recorded on January 10th, 2025. Stigmatization and a lack of awareness has been identified to be some of the driving forces that is stopping affected individuals from seeking healthcare. This has fuelled misinformation surrounding the disease and have made it harder for people to seek treatment and follow prevention guidelines.

To strengthen the national response to the mpox outbreak, the Ministry of Health has ramped up a mpox vaccination campaign, prioritizing healthcare workers and the most vulnerable and at-risk people in the country. Public social distancing measures and mass communication campaigns have also been introduced.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has supported the response with the rehabilitation of the infectious isolation ward of both the Connaught hospital and the Kenema government hospital and trained staffs from the Ministry of Health on infection prevention and control measures, donated supplies to reinforce this and trained them on the production of local chlorine.

MSF further supported with setting up a 50-bed capacity mpox treatment centre in Calaba town, Freetown, for the treatment of severe and moderate cases with the aim to reduce the morbidity and mortality from mpox and improve the adequate referral of patients, based on their diagnosis and symptoms. Deliverance of care to patients in this centre is done in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.