May 25th - Emergency will be taking part in a European Development Day conference [...]

February 10th - Today in Entebbe, Uganda,Gino Strada and Renzo Piano, in the presence of President Museveni
and Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, laid down the first stone of our new Centre of excellence [...]

February 3rd, 2017 - Today in Seoul, South Korea, Gino Strada, surgeon and co-founder​ of EMERGENCY, received the Sunhak Peace Prize, given each year to individuals and organizations which ​have ​distinguished themselves by ​making ​an important contribution to peace and human development. ​"Frontline treatment to victims of conflict," "the defense of people's rights and dignities via a guarantee of the right to be [...]

September 23 - When we tell you about massive influxes of patients in a short period of time, usually it is because of events associated with war, such as news arriving from Afghanistan. However, we also see mass casualties in other countries in which we work. One example is in Sierra Leone. [...]

May 25 - A boat carrying more than 500 people sank off Libyan coast and the final death toll is still unknown. By not ensuring safe access, European policies are putting the lives of people fleeing war and poverty at even greater risk. We call on the European Union to open safe and legal routes for migrants coming from land or sea alike. Only safe access will halt the human tragedy that is unfolding right before our eyes.

The agreement between the European Union and Turkey reveals the complete inability of European leaders to deal with the humanitarian migrant crisis. The EU decisions are based on a concern to defend each country's own borders rather than guarantee protection for those fleeing from war and despair. This bookkeeping entry method denies people the right to search for refuge and protection [...]

«Monday is the "big round" day here at the EMERGENCY NGO hospital in Goderich, Sierra Leone. I follow Enrico (our international orthopaedic surgeon) and Kambai (our Sierraleonese physician) in their visit to all our patient. Mammoud immediately catches my attention; I have already seen him going around the hospital in these days, and I have been wondering what had happened to him. [...]

But, once again, a hospital has become a target. Bombing a hospital is always an unacceptable act of violence. Hospitals need to be able to provide medical care and treat the wounded. They must be respected by everyone involved in the fighting, as written in the Geneva Conventions.
There are no conditions under which this is justified, and humanity as a whole must not tolerate this.

In the two months while our new First Aid Post (FAP) was being built in Waterloo, Sierra Leone, the news of the imminent opening of the clinic quickly spread throughout the area: this, too, is a sign of just how much it's needed. The confirmation came on Monday, just a few minutes after we'd opened the doors, when we four people injured in a road accident were brought to the. All of them were quickly stabilised; three needed further treatment, so we transferred them in our ambulance to the Surgical Centre in Goderich [...]

EMERGENCY has been awarded a special prize by the President of Sierra Leone for its efforts in the fight against Ebola. We are honoured to receive this prize and we would like to share it with every single one of you who supported us during this long battle. Thank you! [...]

«I am a surgeon. I have seen the wounded (and the dead) in several [...]»

November 26 - «On Tuesday we carried out examination number ONE THOUSAND at the Ebola diagnosis lab that EMERGENCY has been running since August at the paediatric and maternal and infants' hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone» writes Luca, our coordinator in that country. On 8th November, the WHO declared that the epidemic in the country was over, but that doesn't mean we can lower our defences: the WHO itself recommended a period of "high surveillance" to ensure that any suspected cases are noted straight away and thereby avoid any new spreading of the virus [...]

November 19 - The good news about the end of the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone must not make us forget that this country still needs us: the epidemic has, in fact, made the already weak health system even more precarious. That's why our commitment towards the people of Sierra Leone goes on: at our Surgical and Paediatric Centre in Goderich, a point of reference for the whole country, and at the new First Aid Post in Lokomasama, that we opened just a few days ago [...]

There have been 42 consecutive days without new cases - the amount of time required to declare a country free of Ebola. The battle against Ebola in Sierra Leone was a tough one, and saw the loss of 3,955 patients and 200 medical staff. During this battle, Emergency was on the frontline. We opened two Treatment Centres for Ebola patients in Goderich and Lakka. We also opened an Intensive [...]

In our hospitals, the concept of "care" goes beyond the medical act. It also means, for example, schools for children who have to stay there as in-patients for long periods of time. Like in Sierra Leone, where each afternoon two primary school teachers come to our Centre to hold remedial classes for the children staying here to receive medical treatment [...]

October 20, 2015 - EMERGENCY ONG ONLUS organization is pleased to announce the results of the first semester of the activities related to the project in Goderich and in the Western Area Rural District. The project, entitled "Paediatric healthcare in Sierra Leone: a network for service delivery and coordination among Civil Society Organizations - Local Authorities - Government Institutions", is co-funded by the European Union and implemented in partnership with the Western Area Rural District Council (WARDC), and Precious Gems Rescue Mission International (PGRMI), a national voluntary organization.

The main aim of the project is to improve health and educational service delivery for vulnerable children in the Western Area Rural District by facilitating strong partnerships among civil society organizations and local authorities [...]

October 20, 2015 - 

Great news from Sierra Leone! Yesterday the last Ebola patient in the country was discharged, completely healed. This is a huge milestone. But now, the countdown begins: Sierra Leone needs 42 consecutive days with no new cases to be declared free from Ebola. We can only say an enormous "thank-you" to all of the Ebola fighters, who have struggled against this virus in the past year. They can now take a well-deserved rest, whilst still remaining vigilant until the end of the countdown.

June, 10 - Our Italian nurse colleague who was tested positive to Ebola last May has recovered and is now fully Ebola-free. He was discharged today from the Istituto Spallanzani in Rome, where he was being treated.

May, 25 - One year ago, the first case of the epidemic of Ebola in Sierra Leone was confirmed. The fight against the virus has been really hard: it cost the lives of more that 3,500 infected people and of over 200 medical and sanitary staff. Today, one year later, the epidemic is under control, but it isn't finished yet. Thanks to all the "Ebola Fighters" [...]

March, 17 - We began working in Sierra Leone in 2001, to help a country that was just emerging from a very bloody civil war [...]

(March 31)

March 23 - Last Friday, for the first time since the beginning of the epidemic, there were no [...]

March 20 - "Zero... I've been waiting a whole year for this day. Zero. None. The battle is not ovet yet, we know it, tomorrow it will start again because this enemy is not an easy one to defeat. But today's zero is for all of us who stayed and fought against the virus". Sara, from Goderich, shares with us good new [...]

March 17 - Gino Strada updates us from Sierra Leone: "There are still more than fifty new cases of Ebola every week in Sierra Leone, half here around ​​Freetown where our Ebola Treatment Center is located. Unfortunately most have a particularly severe form of the disease, which is often mortal. We are worried that this is something new, that the virus is changing [...]"

 
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is waning now, and will eventually disappear altogether, but how long will it take before the cinders are extinguished too? Three days ago, the calm atmosphere was interrupted by a group of fishermen: one of them had felt ill and had died right there on his boat just a few hours later. The boats stay out at sea for up to two days, scouring the islands and then selling the fish in the villages along the coast. By the time they arrived back in the little port of Aberdeen, another of the fishermen on board was dead. The next day, the first patient came in. Then [...]

Lookman is 5. Two years ago, he swallowed some caustic soda by mistake. Unfortunately his case was very difficult: the soda he'd swallowed was semi-solid and left such big scars that his mouth is now completely sealed. He can't even open it just a little bit, and this obviously makes it impossible for him to eat, drink or speak. Last year he nearly died due to a dental abscess: there was no way to get his mouth open [...]

 
«The Ebola epidemic forces us to reflect. 2 patients out of 3 have died in Africa. One yes, two no. One survives and two die. In Europe and the USA on the other hand, a total of 25 patients have been treated. 5 died and 20 survived. A 66% mortality rate in Africa, 20% in the rich countries. Why such a difference? Or, in less impersonal terms: why does the same illness leave room for hope, or condemn to death? [...]»

 
It was the state hospital of Kono district that asked for help from Sara, Medical Coordinator at our Surgical Centre in Goderich, Sierra Leone. Iya had just been born with a serious congenital defect but the operation that he urgently needed couldn't be carried out in that hospital. Wrapped up in a colourful blanket, Iya arrived [...]

 

«Maybe we've done it. Maybe we really can beat this epidemic. The number of new cases is falling sharply every day, so let's hope there aren't any sudden upswings again. Maybe, in the not-too-distant future, we'll be able to say the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone has come to an end [...]»

 
It was Unisa's uncle, an itinerant worker who travels the length and breadth of the various provinces of Sierra Leone, who unintentionally brought Ebola into his community. His wife, children and cousins... in just a short time, many people fell ill and many of them - like Unisa's parents - died. Unisa is a member of staff at our Lakka Centre and he was hospitalised here at once, in his workplace [...]

 
Their names are Lionel and Christian and they are siblings. Their mother died from Ebola a few weeks ago, and they were hospitalised at the EMERGENCY Ebola Treatment Unit in Goderich along with their father. They were very, very ill. Then we saw them gradually get better day by day, regaining their appetite, smiling and even wanting to draw pictures. After two weeks of treatment they recovered [...]

 
On the 28th December, the first Ebola patient treated in Africa with the experimental drug ZMAb has been discharged from the Ebola Treatment Centre run by EMERGENCY NGO in Goderich, Sierra Leone. A.M., 72 years old, had been admitted 2 weeks ago in very critical conditions [...]

 
At least 100 people are falling ill with Ebola every day in Sierra Leone. Apart from treating the patients in its Centre in Lakka, a few kilometres from the capital, EMERGENCY is also working on the prevention side of things too [...]

 
November 27 - "Not even 10 minutes had gone by since I put down the phone, and they were already here at the hospital to give blood" says Sara, coordinator at EMERGENCY's hospital in Goderich, in Sierra Leone. "I called Ester, Unissa and Monjama, all three of them just over the age of 20 and all cured [...]"

 
August 24 - Yesterday, three patients who tested positive for Ebola were transferred from EMERGENCY's hospital in Goderich to the Treatment Centre in Kenema, as required by the national Ebola emergency guidelines. A woman and her 3-year-old twin daughters were admitted to EMERGENCY's hospital on Thursday evening with fever and diarrhoea. They were immediately recognised as suspected cases, tested and placed in isolation while they awaited the results [...]

 
August 20 - According to the latest report from the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health, 783 cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the country, 20 in Freetown alone. Despite this, EMERGENCY's surgical centre and paediatric centre were the only fully functional health facilities in the area in and around the capital [...]

 
"Over 30 patients in just a few minutes: that's how many arrived at our Surgery Centre in Sierra Leone last Thursday. A real mass casualty, due to a road accident on Hill Cut - a road that leads down from the hill, into the city. The wounded were travelling on the rear load area of a lorry[...]"

 
"Best Medical Institution in Sierra Leone": our Goderich hospital has won the AWOL award that "recognises the talent and positive contribution [...]"