The State Department on Thursday ordered family members of U.S. embassy employees in Sierra Leone to evacuate the country’s capital, Freetown, due to worries that the ongoing Ebola crisis is overwhelming medical facilities there.
“The embassy [in Sierra Leone] recommended this step out of an abundance of caution, following the determination by the Department’s Medical Office that there is a lack of options for routine health care services at major medical facilities due to the Ebola outbreak,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
The agency added that it is “reconfiguring” staff at the embassy in Freetown “to be more responsive to the current situation.” That includes focusing on helping U.S. citizens in the country, as well as working with Sierra Leone’s government and international health and non-government relief organizations.
“We remain deeply committed to supporting Sierra Leone and regional and international efforts to strengthen the capacity of the country’s health care infrastructure and system,” Harf said, “specifically, the capacity to contain and control the transmission of the Ebola virus, and deliver health care.”
Earlier this month, the U.S. government also ordered family members of the embassy in Liberia to leave that country’s capital, of Monrovia. The agency cited similar concerns about the deteriorating public health system there as the outbreak worsened.
Harf said that embassies with consular services remain open, and that the agency is “taking a look” at situation in Guinea to determine whether family members of U.S. personnel there also should be evacuated.
Previously, the Peace Corps and some international aid groups have temporarily pulled hundreds of volunteers and employees out of affected areas...
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