Summary
IFRC’s Ebola strategic framework is organized around 5 outcomes:
The epidemic is stopped
National Societies have better Ebola preparedness and stronger long term capacities
IFRC operations are well coordinated
Safe and Dignified Burials (SDB) are effectively carried out by all actors
Recovery of community life and livelihoods
Five emergency appeals were launched to combat Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreaks in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. In helping stop the epidemic, the appeals employ a 5 pillar approach 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.
Smaller preparedness and response operations were 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 Ethiopia, making 16 countries in Africa that have launched emergency operations relating to this outbreak.
After several weeks of consolidated decreases in case incidence, the current reporting period saw slight increases in the three heavily affected countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. This underscores that humanitarian actors cannot afford to be complacent at this stage. Ebola virus is known to appear in waves and there could be a resurgence in the number of cases unless concerted efforts to contain the virus are maintained.
In Liberia ,during the reporting period,5 new cases up from 4 in the previous week were recorded. As the number of Ebola cases decline, IFRC and LNRCS are developing the different strategies for the transition as well as recovery phase of the EVD program.
The first large-scale trials of two experimental vaccines against Ebola have begun in Liberia. The result is expected to be shared by the end of first quarter of 2015.
Following up the 4 confirmed cases on measles by the end of last year, The Ministry of Health is conducting PIRI (Periodic Intensification of Routine Immunization) campaign for measles and vitamin A in December 2014, February and March 2015. For February, the campaign is conducted in the first week.
Along with UNICEF and other organizations with close coordination with the MoH, the LNRCS chapters are mobilizing their volunteers to encourage the mother and care takers to bring their children under 5 to health clinic or outreach team.
In the first three weeks of January, Sierra Leone reported a rapid decline in cases nationwide. However, in the last week of January, more districts reported newly-confirmed cases. This is the first time in 2015 the number of new cases has risen. The distribution of cases in this reporting period were centred around the West and North West of the country with a few cases in Kono, in the East. In Freetown and the surrounding Western area, fewer than 10 Ebola cases have been confirmed per day since 14 January - down from an average of 23 per day in late December according to data reported from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. Corpse positivity rates have also declined with only 4 Ebola-positive community deaths reported in Western Urban the last week. Despite these promising signs, hotspots persist, with the WHO highlighting 50 Ebola hotspots across the region. As cases decline, previously imposed laws have been eased. Movements between districts are now permitted to support economic activities. No quarantines or restrictions on movement above the household level will be imposed by Government.
In Guinea, the past several weeks have seen an overall decrease in the number of cases, though there are still localised spikes and new outbreaks in prefectures that had been previously cleared, including prefectures in the north of the country- Mali and Togue.
Recent spikes in cases have been seen in Lola and Forécariah. Mobile teams from the IFRC and GRC have travelled to both locations to provide assistance to the local GRC branches and ensure burials and patient transfers. Both locations continue to present community resistance, though the levels have decreased a bit since the teams arrived.
Conakry has recently seen an increase in community deaths where the chain of transmission is not known.
The IFRC and GRC are working with national partners to address this problem and to re-establish comprehensive contact tracing and surveillance. The IFRC and GRC teams were strengthened in each of the five districts of the city of Conakry, and supported with the necessary logistics to continue responding to the epidemic.
In Mali, the health minister has declared the end of Ebola in Mali after the lapse of two incubation periods (42 days) since the last confirmed case recovered in Bamako on 6 December.