Getting to Zero

Dr Sinead Walsh served as Ireland’s ambassador to Sierra Leone and Liberia at the height of the Ebola epidemic, whilst also serving as the Head of Mission for Irish Aid. She worked for Concern Worldwide and Human Rights Watch in countries across the globe before joining Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2009. In 2016-17 she was a senior visiting fellow at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.Dr Oliver Johnson OBE was Country Director for King’s Sierra Leone Partnership, where he played a key role in the response to the Ebola epidemic. He had previously worked as Director of Strategy & Teaching Fellow at the King’s Centre for Global Health and as Policy Director for the UK Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health. He is currently a visiting lecturer at King’s College London.

• MapsPreface1. New Beginnings: Sierra Leone before the Outbreak of Ebola2. A Dubious Start: Ebola in Guinea3. Ebola Emerges in Sierra Leone4. Kenema Explodes5. Armageddon6. The Long Wait for Action7. The Response Kicks Off8. The Response Bears Fruit9. Getting to Zero10. ConclusionAfterword: If We Had to Do It All Again…

Getting to Zero is a compelling read, full of compassion, grief, ingenuity and stories of courage and unstinting commitment of local nurses, cleaners and others who remain unsung heroes of Ebola. But it is also full of tales of denial, extraordinary lapses in leadership and awkward truths that will make uncomfortable reading for many, locally and internationally.