Thousands In Sierra Leone Break Ebola Quarantine To Find Food

Thousands of people in Sierra Leone are violating Ebola quarantines to find food because aid deliveries are not reaching them, international relief agencies said Tuesday. While public health authorities have said restrictions on movement may be necessary to bring under control an Ebola outbreak unlike any other, the Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella organization for aid organizations, warned that they were cutting off food to thousands of people.

"The quarantine of Kenema, the third largest town in Sierra Leone, is having a devastating impact on trade — travel is restricted so trucks carrying food cannot freely drive around," the committee said in a statement. "Food is becoming scarce, which has led to prices increasing beyond the reach of ordinary people."

Because services are not reaching quarantined neighborhoods, people who are being monitored for signs of Ebola and should be staying at home, are venturing out to markets to look for food, potentially contaminating many others, said Jeanne Kamara, Christian Aid's Sierra Leone representative.

The announcement comes weeks after aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned against the unwarranted use of quarantines and travel restrictions that would hurt economies, upset trade routes and reduce people's trust in government authorities who sealed off large swaths of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to prevent the spread of Ebola.

The Sierra Leone government, with help from the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP), delivers food and other services to those under quarantine. But there are many "nooks and crannies" in the country remote villages and communities that are being missed, Kamara added.

Credits: Al Jazeera / The Associated Press