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Invited review
The 2014 West Africa Ebola crisis: lessons from UK Defence Healthcare Engagement in Sierra Leone
  1. Mohammed Boie Jalloh1 and
  2. J A Round2
  1. 1 34 Military Hospital, Sierra Leone Ministry of Defence and Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, Freetown, Western Area, Sierra Leone
  2. 2 Joint Hospital Group (North), Defence Medical Services, Middlesbrough, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr J A Round, Joint Hospital Group (North), Defence Medical Services, Middlesbrough TS4 3BW, UK; Jonathan.Round1{at}nhs.net

Abstract

The 2014 West Africa Ebola virus disease outbreak prompted the deployment to Sierra Leone of non-governmental organisations and the UK Joint Inter-Agency Taskforce including personnel from the UK Defence Medical Services (DMS). Some of these military personnel partnered with the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) as an example of Defence Healthcare Engagement (DHE).

UK DMS mentors assisted RSLAF to plan and upscale Ebola treatment units. Use of military analysis and planning tools facilitated robust and flexible plans to be produced while under significant time and resource constraints. Macrosimulation exercises enabled large numbers to be trained and standard operating procedures to be developed.

Fundamental to success was a mutual respect between the DHE partners while maintaining host nation primacy throughout. DHE in this example offered advantages over non-governmental organisations. Transferable lessons for future DHE from the RSLAF-UK DMS partnership are described in this paper.

  • medical education & training
  • infectious diseases
  • human resource management

https://doi.org/10.1136/military-2023-002665

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors Both authors contributed equally to the preparation of this manuscript. JAR is the guarantor.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.