Ebola Epidemic in Sierra Leone: on the Crisis Story of the Pre-COVID Era

Mikhel, D.; Mikhel, I.

This article examines the history of one of the most significant crises that occurred shortly before the current global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which lasted from February 2014 to December 2015, killed more than 11,000 people and sowed panic around the world. What started as a local phenomenon quickly became a major challenge to national health in West African countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, etc., as well as to global health institutions such as WHO and international humanitarian organizations. The most severe consequences of Ebola were felt in Sierra Leone - a country rich in natural resources, but with a poor state administration system and a dilapidated health care system. A complex set of factors-environmental, economic, political, social and cultural - was responsible for the spread of the Ebola virus among the people of West Africa. All of them are now more or less well understood, although a holistic picture of the events of the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in West Africa remains unclear. The aim of this article is to reconstruct the general history of the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, as well as to characterize its causes and consequences.