AYV News, May 9, 2025
Sierra Leone’s Peace Ambassador and popular rapper, Alhaji Amadu Bah (King Boss LA) joins the call for all to be aware of the spread of Monkeypox (Mpox) in Sierra Leone.
Alhaji Amadu Bah said: “Mpox is real and it is in Sierra Leone spreading widely. Be careful who you hug, kiss and mix with. Let us try hard to contain it where it is now and stop the spread. Join government in the fight. I call on every Sierra Leonean, especially we the entertainers to come together and join the sensitisation on the awareness of Mpox”.
The Government of Sierra Leone has issued new regulations to curtail the spread of MPox across the country. The new regulations call for the disinfection of shared items and spaces every day, keeping a safe distance, avoiding overcrowding—keep at least 1 meter (3 feet) between people, stagger services or gatherings where possible, avoid physical contact, and no handshakes or hugs.
Executive Director, National Public Health Agency, Brig. Gen. Prof. Foday Sahr said the regulations further calls for the cleaning of hands and spaces, provision of handwashing stations at all entry and exit points, cleaning of surfaces that are touched often, daily, display of Mpox prevention posters in local languages, appointment of a health focal person in every location, reporting of signs of Mpox: fever, rash, or swollen lymph nodes and supporting of contact tracing and monitor exposed persons for 21 days.
He said the new regulations apply to all public spaces, workplaces, schools, and places of worship.
Sierra Leone has seen a new surge in Mpox infections, recording over 1,140 cases and nine deaths since the start of the year, the health ministry said.
The country, which in January declared a public health emergency to combat Mpox, last week said the death toll stood at six, with 763 cases.
Freetown has the highest number of detected cases, according to the latest figures sent out by the Ministry of Health.
The country began vaccinating children from the age of 12, high-risk people and exposed healthcare workers in early April after receiving 61,300 doses from the World Health Organization.
Desmond Maada Kangbai, who leads the health ministry’s vaccination programme, said: “So far, 2,500 people have been vaccinated and we are ramping up the vaccination drive in Freetown, border towns and rural areas mainly for frontline health workers and high-risk hotspots to ensure the protection of our people from the virus”.
The government has opened four treatment centres in the capital since February.
Mpox is caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox, manifesting in a high fever and skin lesions.
First identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970, the disease had generally been confined to a dozen African countries.
But in 2022, it began to spread more widely, reaching developed countries where the virus had never previously circulated.
The WHO declared its highest level of alert in 2024.
A decade ago, Sierra Leone was one of the countries worst affected by an Ebola epidemic, which between 2014 and 2016 killed about 4,000 people, including nearly seven per cent of health workers.
