Global Medic:
Today is the first day of the three day shutdown across Sierra Leone. So far there has been calm. According to government sources, 30,000 volunteers are going door to door distributing soap and information on Ebola and setting up community style surveillance units. There is an expectation that they will find a large number of new suspected Ebola cases and take them to holding centres, but no statistics have been made available. 21,000 police and military personnel are being used to make sure people stay in their homes and that order is kept through the entire country.
Yesterday the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to dispatch a UN Medical Mission to West Africa to deal with the Ebola crisis. According to Ban Ki Moon the mission will have five key priorities: stopping infection; treating the sick; ensuring essential services; preserving stability; and preventing future outbreaks. The force is expected to be on the ground by the end of September. This is hopefully news for response efforts, but it still requires financial and political support from UN member states. The United States and Canada both made pledges for the Ebola crisis this week, but more is needed from the global community to make a measurable impact on the spread of this virus.
Medecins sans Fronteiers
The Ebola epidemic currently sweeping through West Africa has proven to be the most devastating single outbreak of the disease in history. Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been working to contain the outbreak since reports of its spread first appeared. However, the organization has warned that it had reached the limits of what its teams can do, and has called for a coordinated international effort to help fight the epidemic.
Despite the UN calling the epidemic a “crisis unparalleled in modern times”, so far the international response has so far been lethally inadequate. MSF teams in West Africa are seeing critical gaps in all aspects of the response, including medical care, training of health staff, infection control, contact tracing, epidemiological surveillance, alert and referral systems, community education and mobilization.
MSF has been responding to the outbreak since March, and currently has a total of 2,239 staff working in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal, treating a rapidly increasing number of patients.
The Red Cross
This week, the Red Cross (IFRC) opened its first Ebola treatment centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone, a district hard-hit by the outbreak. The centre can house up to 60 patients when at full capacity. The centre has so far admitted 5 patients, including an 11-year-old girl.
The centre is currently staffed by 80 workers from Sierra Leone and 19 international Red Cross personnel, including Canadian aid workers. These numbers will increase as the operation expands.
Photo credit: Kathy Mueller / IFRC
Plan Canada
In an effort to contain the virus, families have been separated and regions have been quarantined – a trying experience posing further challenges in accessibility. With mobility restricted, the cost of living continues to rise exponentially, and the norms of everyday life have ceased for many.
“Everything has come to a halt,” said Kamara, a social worker located in Lofa County, Liberia. “There is no education as the schools and colleges are closed. Businesses are not moving, the city is empty and people are now running away. People are even questioning whether they should work.”
Klubo, another social worker in the County, explained that she used to provide counselling to grieving loved ones and those in fear. But, she is now in fear, herself, of coming into contact with others. “People whose hands I used to shake, or people I used to hug – I do this no more. I talk to them from a distance,” she said.
The Humanitarian Coalition (ARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec, Plan Canada and Save the Children Canada)
The countries affected by Ebola are some of the poorest in the world, with fragile public health systems that are ill equipped to handle the magnitude of the outbreak. While front-line medical services and interventions must be funded to treat those who have contracted the disease and to quarantine people who exhibit symptoms, there is also an urgent need to scale up public health interventions in affected areas and beyond.
The member agencies of the Humanitarian Coalition are on the ground right now and their dedicated staff are busy helping families and communities adopt practices that will help prevent the further spread of the disease, and supporting those who have been impacted by the crisis. With basic measures such as the sharing of accurate information, the training of community health workers, and the distribution of hygiene kits and clean water, the number of new cases can be reduced. As in all emergencies, women and children are the most vulnerable. That is why our agencies have put in place particular programs to protect and support them throughout this crisis.
Amref Canada
Using our experiences garnered during the two Ebola epidemics of 2000 and 2012 in Uganda, Amref Health Africa is prepared to support the Ministries of Health and other stakeholders in the following areas of intervention:
- implementation of Ministry of Health Contingency Plans through participation in coordination meetings and emergency committees at national and local levels;
- cross-border surveillance;
- protection of staff (Ministry of Health, Amref Health Africa and other health workers);
- training of health providers in infection prevention and control. This includes providing guidelines on specimen collection, storage and transportation for safe delivery of samples to reference laboratories for confirmation;
- controlling the epidemic through early detection, isolation, treatment of new infection, and contact training, including safe handling of body fluids and the remains of those who die;
- counselling for Ebola survivors and their relatives;
- psychosocial support to fight stigma;
- community awareness through community village leaders, working alongside village health teams;
- keeping Amref Health Africa offices updated with latest information and providing advice to travellers to Amref Health Africa offices in Africa.
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