Summary
IFRC supports National Societies with international emergency appeals to combat Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. The appeals employ a 5 pillar approach spelled out in an Ebola regional framework, comprising: (1) Beneficiary Communication and Social Mobilization; (2) Contact Tracing and Surveillance; (3) Psychosocial Support; (4) Case Management; and (5) Safe and Dignified Burials (SDB) and Disinfection. In addition, a regional appeal was launched to accommodate multi-country support needs. IFRC also continues to support smaller preparedness and response operations financed under its Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) in Mali, Cote d’Ivoire,
Cameroon, Togo, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Kenya and Guinea Bissau and now Ethiopia, making a total of 16 countries that have emergency operations relating to this outbreak.
On 29 October the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the rate of new Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) infections in Liberia appears to be slowing down, as evidenced by the number of empty beds in treatment centres, the declining number of burials and plateauing lab confirmations. However, this is no cause for celebration as the disease is still raging in parts of the country and also in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Guinea and hence there is a risk that the decline in Liberia won’t be sustained. Neither does it mean that the disease is under control in Liberia itself, as Ebola has the potential to appear in waves. Red Cross figures show new deaths are still increasing in areas outside Monrovia.
In another development, as part of an international response to the EVD epidemic in West Africa,
Switzerland’s drug regulator recently approved the testing of an experimental Ebola vaccine on 120 healthy volunteers. The volunteers are health-care workers who will be expected to work on medical teams in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Other similar trials are currently ongoing in the U.K., U.S. and Mali.
IFRC is in the process of establishing a regional hub in Accra, Ghana. The status agreement with Ghana is being reactivated to make sure that the Federation has offices there. This move is strategic as the United Nations Mission on Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) is based in Accra. This will make coordination efforts with UNMEER and other partners easy.
Last week, IFRC held meetings with some Partner National Societies (PNS) regarding scale-up of operations in the most affected West African nations. German Red Cross, together with Canadian Red Cross have carried out assessments in Liberia and Sierra Leone. German Red Cross has plans of putting up an Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) in Liberia. In Sierra Leone, they will increase support to the IFRC ETC in Kenema. Canadian Red Cross has no plans of putting up an ETC but will continue supporting Kenema ETC.
French Red Cross will open up an ETC in Macenta, Guinea with an initial 20 beds to be scaled to a 50 bed capacity. The proposed opening date for this facility is 15 November.
