Johnson Oliver - Getting to zero: a doctor and a diplomat on the Ebola frontline

Imagine watching a country and people you love being ravaged by a disease that seems unstoppable. Imagine shaping emergency operations one minute and pleading with distant leaders the next, all the while not knowing whether what you are doing will ever be enough. Getting to Zero takes us behind the scenes to the harrowing frontlines of the Ebola epidemic highlighting a set of lessons that an inter-connected world would ignore at our peril. A compelling read.

Samantha Power, former US Ambassador to the UN

A brave, bold, yet humble account of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. This is vital reading to help us all do better next time.

David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee

Walsh and Johnson represent the best of international intervention. This book reveals the complexities and level of cooperation that made getting to zero possible. Offers excellent insight into those trying times.

O.B. Sisay, Director of the Situation Room at the National Ebola Response Centre, Sierra Leone

A detailed, up-close-and-personal perspective on the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, important for all who want to understand what it is to confront a terrible health threat.

Tom Frieden, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A frank, beautifully written, and essential guide to the lessons learned from the heart of the outbreak. Their first-hand experiences in battling this terrible disease will take your breath away. A must read.

Tulip Mazumdar, Global Health Correspondent for BBC News

This is historys first draft, and a powerful example of persistent and pragmatic leadership. Mandatory reading for anyone concerned with global health in the broadest sense.

Paul Farmer, Harvard Medical School, and co-founder of Partners in Health

Courage in extreme clinical danger, courage to challenge obstructive bureaucracy, courage to make tough decisions and the courage to endure. This is the courage that Sinead Walsh and Oliver Johnson displayed in Sierra Leone.

Eldryd Parry, founder of the Tropical Health and Education Trust

This powerful book asks important questions about aid and development and offers insights that everyone working in global health should absorb.

Nigel Crisp KCB, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health

A captivating and brutally honest account of the Ebola epidemic. The authors pull no punches, and leave us asking: will these lessons be learned, or will the world once again forget and move on?

Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust

About the authors

Dr Sinead Walsh has worked for Irelands Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade since 2009 . She was a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative in 2016/17 . Prior to this, she served as the Ambassador of Ireland to Sierra Leone and Liberia and the Head of Irish Aid in the two countries, based in Freetown from 2011 to 2016 . Her first role with the Department was as a Development Specialist in the Civil Society Section.

Before joining the government, Sinead spent ten years in the NGO sector, predominantly with Concern Worldwide, working in India, Pakistan, Rwanda and South Sudan, as well as in a global advocacy role. She has a BA in English from Harvard University, an MSc in development studies from University College Dublin and a PhD in social policy from the London School of Economics.

Dr Oliver Johnson is a visiting lecturer in global health at Kings College London. He was based in Freetown from 2013 to 2015 working as the Director of the Kings Sierra Leone Partnership.

Oliver has previously worked as Director of Strategy and teaching fellow at the Kings Centre for Global Health and as Policy Director for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health. He studied medicine at Kings College London and international health at University College London.

Oliver was awarded an OBE in the 2015 Queens Birthday Honours in recognition of his leadership role in the British response to the Ebola outbreak.

Sinead is donating her proceeds from the book to St Josephs School in Makeni, Northern Sierra Leone. St Josephs educates and supports children with hearing impairments and other disabilities, including Ebola survivors. www.friendsofstjosephskids.org

Oliver is donating his proceeds from the book towards projects to support training opportunities for health workers in Sierra Leone.

GETTING TO ZERO

A Doctor and a Diplomat on the Ebola Frontline

SINEAD WALSH AND OLIVER JOHNSON

Getting to Zero: A Doctor and a Diplomat on the Ebola Frontline was first published in 2018 by Zed Books Ltd, The Foundry, Oval Way, London SE RR, UK.

www.zedbooks.net

Copyright Sinead Walsh and Oliver Johnson 2018

The right of Sinead Walsh and Oliver Johnson to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 .

Typeset in Bulmer by Swales and Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon

Index by Rohan Bolton

Cover design by Emma J. Hardy

Cover photo Espen Rasmussen/Panos

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN ---- hb

ISBN -- 78699 -- pb

ISBN -- 78699 -- pdf

ISBN -- 78699 -- epub

ISBN -- 78699 -- mobi

Contents

Sinead would like to warmly thank the staff team of the Embassy of Ireland during Ebola, without whom none of the work in this book would have been possible: Paula Molloy, Emma Mulhern, Teta Lincoln, Lorna Stafford, Davida Macauley, Abubakar Kargbo, Gibril Kargbo, Allie Kamara, Desmond Tucker, Fatmata Mansaray and Ramatu Mansaray. More broadly, she would also like to thank her colleagues at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland for their support during the crisis and on this book, particularly Niall Burgess and Michael Gaffey.

She is grateful to colleagues and friends in Freetown and internationally who provided great support during the crisis: Peter West, Sister Mary Sweeney, Sonia Walia, Esmee de-Jong , Roeland Monasch, Kathleen Fitzgibbon, John Hoover, Daniel Kertesz, Kate Airey, Ato Brown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, OB Sisay, Yoti Zabulon, David Nabarro, Peter Graaff, Bintou Keita, Peter Rees-Gildea, Ed Davis, Memuna Forna, Hussien Ibrahim, Jatin Hiranandani, Philippe Maughan, Fiona McLysaght, Saffea Senessie, Amanda McClelland, Amanda Tiffany, Ibrahim Dakhlala, Eric Eccles-James and the late, great Joy Samake. These and other colleagues were generous with their time on the book, particularly Paul Richards, Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie, Kande-Bure OBai Kamara, Chris Lane, Claire Bader, Ian Norton, Martin Cormican, David Harris, John Raine and Luisa Enria.

Sinead would also like to thank the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative within the Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health for their warm hospitality during her year in residence to write the book, especially Susan Tannehill and Theresa Lund. She is also extremely grateful to Harvard Medical Schools Department of Global Health and Social Medicine for their support, including financial support to conduct some of the later interviews. Special thanks to Paul Farmer, Ishaan Desai, Katherine Kralievits and Jennifer Puccetti.

For wonderful moral support during Ebola and beyond, Sinead would like to thank her parents, Gay and Joe Walsh, and family members Brian, Joseph, James, Deirdre and Paddy Walsh; Louise Collins; Helen Thornton; Steve Landon; Martina, Brian, Emily, Oscar and Fionnuala Rowe. She would also like to thank Neal McCarthy, Bhakti Mirchandani, Aine Bhreathnach, Caroline Johnston, Jane Kelly Rogers, Alison OConnor, Fionnuala Gilsenan, Kate Golden and Jennie Timoney.