Situation Update
Two weeks after World Health Organization (WHO) announcement on the outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in West Africa, there are still no obvious signs of control on the overall situation. As of 20 August, the cumulative death toll stands at 1,350 people with a cumulative number of cases attributed to EVD in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria rose to 2,473 since March.
After Liberia and Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Guinea also declared a state of national emergency, with a series of measures to be imposed to contain the rising cases. In Liberia, due to a fragile health care system and not enough health care workers at the moment, some of the health facilities have to be closed down, resulting in a large number of patients with different conditions to flush into a few major hospitals for treatment. One of the local clinics treating Ebola patients in a slum area was looted during this week, and the government officials were forced to quarantine the slum area to contain the potential major spread. The fulfillment of basic needs of the people living in slum area remains a humanitarian concern.
Hong Kong Red Cross Actions
The Hong Kong Red Cross (HKRC) launched an emergency appeal to the Hong Kong public on 29 April to call for public support to the EVD emergency and preparedness operations in West Africa. Thanks to the kind generosity of the Hong Kong public, as of 21 August, over HK$550,000 has been received.
As a part of the support to the International Red Cross EVD emergency and preparedness operations in Liberia, HKRC has deployed 4 volunteers and 1 staff in total to the country;
3 volunteer nurses serving from late April to late May
1 public health doctor and 1 clinical psychologist serving from late July to late August
All of them have completed their mission and safely returned to Hong Kong.
HKRC deployed personnel facilitated knowledge transfer to local health workers, national society staff and volunteers particularly in public health and psychosocial (PSS) aspect. During the process, scientific knowledge was adapted into simplified messages according to the context that best fit the operational use.
- More than 250 community volunteers and local Red Cross branch staff in 5 seriously affected counties in Liberia were systematically trained with public health knowledge, use of phone-survey techniques and methodology for dissemination. Trained personnel reached more than 10,000 households in the subsequent community awareness campaign
- 106 frontline staff were trained with psychosocial first aid knowledge as a self help and skill to serve in the community. 32 of whom were in turn responsible for highly stressed duties, e.g. dead body management. 19 out of the 106 became local trainers in psychosocial support and will subsequently train volunteers and staff from their respective Red Cross branches for the 5 counties
- Participated as part of the national awareness and health promotion campaign by hosting PSS session in the live interactive national broadcast radio programme
- Conducted counseling sessions to health staff and psychosocial visits to families with members affected and had completed quarantine period, total 43 times
- Contributed to constant update of International Red Cross operational strategy and response plan Red Cross Actions
International Red Cross appeals for HK$ 87 million to reach over 23.9 million people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and to establish a strong regional support towards the operation in West Africa. However up to 21 August, only an approximate 23% of the appeal budget has been secured. So far, over 2,000 volunteers have been mobilized in the operation, some 90,000 people have been reached through social mobilization with correct messages about Ebola. Other services like dead body management, contact tracing, psychosocial support continues in these countries. A basic health care emergency response unit, one of the International Red Cross global disaster response tools, was deployed in an isolation camp in Sierra Leone to provide support to local Ministry of Health in response to the request from WHO.
Enquiry
Please call 2802-0016, or fax to 2802-0017, or email to relief@redcross.org.hk