Regional Overview
Ebola transmission remains persistent and widespread in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and is accelerating in almost all settings. As of 19 October 2014, 9936 cases and 4877 deaths from Ebola virus disease (EVD) have been reported. The outbreaks of EVD in Senegal and Nigeria were declared over on 17 October and 19 October 2014, respectively. On 23 October 2014, Mali confirmed it first imported case of EVD, making it the sixth West African country to be touched by the outbreak.
UNICEF estimates that 8.5 million children and young people under the age of 20 live in areas affected by EVD. Out of these, 2.5 million are under the age of 5. Children are at risk of being exposed to the virus, as well as risk losing their caregivers and family members who are infected.
UNICEF is supporting the scale-up of essential health services as the disruption of health services means that many children are not receiving life-saving vaccinations, and may be left untreated for preventable but potentially fatal common childhood illnesses, such as malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea.
At the coordination level, a dedicated Ebola Crisis Cell has been created at UNICEF’s Headquarter in New York, led by Dr. Peter Salama, Global Ebola Emergency Coordinator. At the UNICEF Regional Office for West and Central Africa in Dakar, Senegal, an Ebola Operation Centre has also been established on 13 October 2014. UNICEF is also collaborating with the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) by seconding staff to its headquarters in Accra, Ghana. UNICEF is in the process of revising its Ebola Appeal funding requirements, which will be published in the coming weeks.