Ebola in West Africa - Emergency Humanitarian Assistance - WHO 2014

August 2014 - On March 21 2014 Guinea declared an outbreak of the Ebola virus a deadly haemorrhagic fever. The epicentre of the outbreak is in southern Guinea close to the borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone. The disease has already spread across these borders. There have been 1 711 cases of Ebola virus in Guinea Liberia and Sierra Leone to date including 961 deaths. Assistance is needed to prevent the Ebola virus from spreading further. Although there have been periodic epidemics of Ebola in Central Africa over the past 30 years this is the first time that West Africa is affected. With DFATD’s support the World Health Organization (WHO) aims to reduce and control the spread of the Ebola virus in Guinea Liberia and Sierra provide care for those affected and prevent the spread of Ebola to neighbouring at-risk countries. Project activities include: (1) strengthening the field response by sending more personnel to affected countries; (2) managing the WHO Sub-regional Ebola Coordination Centre which coordinates and harmonizes the technical support from all major partners in West Africa and helps to mobilize resources; (3) improving the coordination of the response to the outbreak by improving logistics communication and information sharing; and (4) strengthening surveillance of the disease to help inform decision-making and improving laboratory diagnostic capacity.

The expected immediate outcomes for this project include: (1) the field response is strengthened and chains of transmission of the Ebola virus are broken; (2) cross-border coordination collaboration and operational management of the outbreak are strengthened; (3) clinical and expert support global communication and information are provided; and (4) active surveillance and laboratory diagnostic capacity are strengthened. The expected intermediate outcome is reduced vulnerability of crisis-affected people especially women and children.