By Ishmael Sallieu Koroma
Freetown, 15 December 2025 — When the Minister of Health, Dr. Austin H. Demby, rose to the podium at the Freetown City Council Auditorium on Monday, the atmosphere carried both solemnity and quiet triumph. Before him sat government officials, frontline health workers, development partners, traditional leaders, and community representatives—many of whom had spent nearly a year battling an outbreak that tested Sierra Leone’s public health system once again.
“It is my solemn duty and my privilege to officially declare that the Mpox outbreak in Sierra Leone has ended,” Dr. Demby announced, drawing sustained applause from the audience.
The declaration formally brings to a close an outbreak that began on 9 January 2025 and spread across all 16 districts, demanding swift coordination, community trust, and institutional resolve. The announcement also coincided with the second anniversary of the National Public Health Agency (NPHA), giving the moment added symbolic weight.
Meeting international standards
Health authorities confirmed that the declaration followed strict international public health standards. A country may only be declared free of an outbreak after recording no new confirmed cases for at least 42 consecutive days equivalent to two full incubation periods of the virus.
“All sixteen districts have met and surpassed this threshold,” Dr. Demby said, noting that several districts have gone more than 150 days without recording a case. As of 15 December 2025, Sierra Leone has zero active Mpox cases nationwide.
The human cost and the scale of response
Since the first confirmed case nearly a year ago, Sierra Leone recorded 5,442 confirmed Mpox cases. Of these, 5,382 patients recovered, reflecting a recovery rate of about 99 percent. Sixty people died, representing a case fatality rate of 1.1 percent.
At the ceremony, Dr. Demby paused proceedings to call for a minute of silence in memory of those who lost their lives. “We honour the memory of sixty Sierra Leoneans whose lives were taken during this outbreak,” he said. “Their memory strengthens our resolve to protect every life.”
Behind the statistics lies an unprecedented national response. More than 186,000 people were vaccinated, with priority given to healthcare workers, contacts of confirmed cases, and other vulnerable groups. Contact tracing teams tracked and monitored over 22,500 individuals, while laboratory capacity expanded significantly, growing to nine testing sites across the country.
Communities at the centre
Unlike earlier health crises, authorities emphasised that communities were not merely recipients of interventions but active participants in the response. Paramount chiefs, religious leaders, youth groups, and civil society organisations played a critical role in dispelling misinformation, encouraging early reporting, and supporting isolation measures.
“This was a whole-of-government and whole-of-society effort,” Dr. Demby said. “Public health was taken to every doorstep.”
Community engagement proved particularly important in rural and densely populated urban areas, where cultural practices and fear of stigma initially slowed reporting. Health educators worked alongside trusted local figures to bridge gaps between public health policy and everyday life.
Leadership and frontline sacrifice
The Minister praised President Julius Maada Bio for what he described as decisive leadership throughout the outbreak, noting that high-level political commitment ensured timely resource mobilisation and coordination across ministries.
Special recognition was reserved for healthcare workers. “They are the true heroes of this response,” Dr. Demby said. “Many placed themselves at personal risk to save others.”
Doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, surveillance officers, and community health workers operated under demanding conditions, often in remote locations with limited infrastructure. Their efforts, officials said, were central to the rapid identification of cases and the containment of transmission.
The National Public Health Agency’s test
The Mpox outbreak has also been widely viewed as a major test for the National Public Health Agency, which was established in the aftermath of the Ebola crisis to prevent a repeat of past systemic failures.
“Today’s declaration validates that decision,” Dr. Demby noted. “Sierra Leone is no longer defined by its past health crises, but by how it has learned from them.”
The agency coordinated surveillance, data management, laboratory testing, and emergency response—functions that were fragmented during previous outbreaks. Health experts say the Mpox response demonstrates a maturation of Sierra Leone’s public health architecture.
Beyond celebration: sustained vigilance
Despite the milestone, officials were careful to temper celebration with caution. Mpox continues to circulate in parts of Africa, and global mobility increases the risk of reintroduction.
“The end of this outbreak does not mean the end of vigilance,” Dr. Demby warned. “We will maintain surveillance, strengthen border screening, and sustain community awareness. Preparedness is not optional; it is permanent.”
Health authorities say lessons learned from Mpox will inform future responses to emerging diseases, including rapid vaccination strategies, decentralised testing, and community-led surveillance.
A broader significance
For many observers, the declaration carries significance beyond Mpox itself. It signals a shift in how Sierra Leone confronts public health threats less reactive, more coordinated, and increasingly confident.
As the ceremony concluded, applause filled the auditorium not only for the end of an outbreak, but for a system that, this time, held firm.
In declaring Sierra Leone free of Mpox, the country closes one chapter while reinforcing a message shaped by hard-earned experience: preparedness, trust, and collective action remain the strongest defences against the next public health threat.
