Ebola Crisis in West Africa - Prevention and Social Reinsertion - Save the Children Canada 2014

November 2014 - On August 8 2014 the World Health Organization declared the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa an international health emergency. The Ebola outbreak started in Guinea and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. There have been over 15 000 cases of Ebola virus in Guinea Liberia and Sierra Leone to date including more than 5 400 deaths. The current outbreak is unprecedented in terms of its scale geographic reach humanitarian impact as well as its social and economic repercussions. The number of cases and deaths surpass all previous Ebola epidemics combined. With DFATD’s support Save the Children is helping to reduce and control the spread of the Ebola virus through an integrated response at the community and national levels in Guinea. Project activities include: (1) training communities and health care workers and conducting community sensitization campaigns to improve knowledge and skills in Ebola prevention and care; (2) providing support and training to Ministry of Health staff for prevention and surveillance interventions to enhance its capacity to respond to the Ebola outbreak; (3) providing social support and conducting information sessions on child protection principles to increase access to child protection services for children and families as well as social reinsertion of Ebola survivors; and (4) providing interim care to children whose parents are in treatment units as well as psychosocial support to Ebola survivors.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) the spread of the Ebola outbreak is prevented in the targeted areas through improved knowledge and skills of communities and health care workers; (2) improved capacity of the Guinean Ministry of Health to respond to the Ebola outbreak; and (3) affected children and families are able to access child protection services for children and social reinsertion of survivors is improved. The expected ultimate outcome is lives saved suffering alleviated and human dignity maintained in countries experiencing humanitarian crises or acute food insecurity.