The prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, is scheduled to visit Danish healthcare workers fighting the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone today, according to her schedule.
She will become the first head of a western government to visit the country since the outbreak hit last March. The PM will visit a group of 20 Danish doctors and nurses working with locals and a team from Ireland at an Ebola treatment centre in the city of Port Loko.
“It is important that countries like Denmark show support and solidarity with Sierra Leone and other west African countries affected by Ebola,” Thorning-Schmidt told Berlingske. “It is a terrible disease that transcends borders and can only be controlled if we help each other.”
Out of sight should not be out of mind
Thorning-Schmidt said the fight against the deadly disease “should not be forgotten in our part of the world”.
The PM has a full day of activities scheduled in the region after she lands in Freetown this morning. She will also visit a Danish transport ship used to bring UN vehicles into Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Thus far, the World Health Organization has registered 21,296 people infected with Ebola during the current outbreak. Of these, 8,429 have died from the disease.
