Nigeria offers drugs to Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone

Nigerian government has offered drugs and supplies worth more than 249,000 U. S. dollars to Sierra Leone, a statement by the Ministry of Health said here on Thursday.
This offering was made apart from a 3.5 million dollar donation promised by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan toward the fight against Ebola scourge in the sub-region, said the statement signed by health ministry's spokeswoman, Ayo Adesugba.
"Nigeria made the donation at the request of the government of Sierra Leone," the statement said, noting Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, had already mobilized and trained over 600 health workers as volunteers to support the containment effort in affected countries within the region under the leadership of the Economic Community Of West African States.
Nigeria was recently declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization (WHO), having recorded no new cases of the highly- contagious disease after six weeks since Aug. 31.
The government said it was in this light that the West African country was willing to share its experiences and offered support to other countries in terms of building necessary capacity, management of information and actual case management in their efforts to contain the Ebola Virus Disease.
Authorities in Nigeria ascribed its success in containing the disease to responsive governance, driven by appropriate political will, a clear leadership role, and strong multi-sectoral teamwork.
The government said an all-inclusive national response to the Ebola outbreak was crucial to the African nation's rapid containment of the disease.
Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in the latest outbreak of the Ebola disease, which spreads through body fluids, according to WHO.