Nigeria sends 100 medical workers to Sierra Leone to fight Ebola

About 100 Nigerian medical workers, including doctors, scientists and hygienists who have been trained by the medical aid agency, MSF, are expected to leave the country for Sierra Leone to help fight the ravaging Ebola Virus Disease in that country.

Some of the medics being deployed. Photo AFP via BBC

The move is Nigeria’s part in the African Union’s promise to send 1,000 medical workers to Ebola-hit areas in the continent by the end of this year.

BBC reports that:

The Nigerian medical workers are the first part of a contingent of about 250 specialists the West African country is deploying to the three countries worst hit by Ebola - Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

It came a day after residents in the Guinean capital, Conakry, protested about the construction of an Ebola treatment clinic in their district.

Officials say the workers are expected to stay for between three and six months.

The Ebola outbreak has claimed about 6,000 lives in West Africa since it broke out early this year.