Community

Avoiding Ebola – how this Chiefdom in Sierra Leone did it

Thu, 2015-04-16 15:11 — mike kraft

UNICEF CONNECT blogs.unicef.org April 15, 2015

by Margaret James, a Health Officer with UNICEF, Sierre Leone

When I first heard in February that Lugbu chiefdom was one of the few in Bo District, Sierra Leone, that had not recorded a single case of Ebola, my interest was immediately triggered. On 2 March 2015 we got to visit the chiefdom’s main town, Sumbuya, for several hours of meetings with local leaders, youth, a traditional healer and business people to find out more.

Lugbu chiefdom has several entry points and can be accessed by both land and water. (c)UNICEF Sierra Leone

In our quest for answers, we got permission from the local Paramount Chief, (PC) Mohamed Allie Nallo, who gave his blessing and got in touch with key people to help us in our research. We held group meetings, one-on-one interviews and even carried out spot visits.

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Community-Centered Responses to Ebola in Urban Liberia: The View from Below

Mon, 2015-04-13 21:35 — mike kraft

PLOS by Saron Alane Abramowitz, Kristen E. McLean and others, April 9, 2015

The West African Ebola epidemic has demonstrated that the existing range of medical and epidemiological responses to emerging disease outbreaks is insufficient, especially in post-conflict contexts with exceedingly poor healthcare infrastructures.

In this context, community-based responses have proven vital for containing Ebola virus disease (EVD) and shifting the epidemic curve. Despite a surge in interest in local innovations that effectively contained the epidemic, the mechanisms for community-based response remain unclear.

This study provides baseline information on community-based epidemic control priorities and identifies innovative local strategies for containing EVD in Liberia.
Read complete study.

http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0003706

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A Community-Engaged Infection Prevention and Control Approach to Ebola

Tue, 2015-04-07 01:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

CLICK HERE - A Community-Engaged Infection Prevention and Control Approach to Ebola

CLICK HERE - FULL TEXT LINKS - A Community-Engaged Infection Prevention and Control Approach to Ebola

Abstract

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Ebola Outbreak in West Africa: Lessons Learned from Quarantine

Fri, 2015-03-20 21:09 — mike kraft

THE ASSESSMENT CAPACITIES PROJECT (ACAPS) March 19, 2015

Ebola Outbreak in West Africa: Lessons Learned from Quarantine--Sierra Leone and Liberia (acaps) The use of quarantine in West Africa is debated by various stakeholders. Some INGOs have argued that quarantine can fuel panic and counterproductive behaviour. Others have defended quarantine as a vital complementary tool to prevent the spread of infection and facilitate contact tracing....

See full study.

http://acaps.org/img/documents/t-acaps_thematic_note_ebola_west_africa_quarantine_sierra_leone_liberia_19_march_2015.pdf

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Watch closely and explain frequently: Liberia's Ebola lessons

Sun, 2015-03-15 15:42 — mike kraft

REUTERS By James Harding Giahyue and Emma Farge March 13, 2015

MONROVIA/DAKAR - Seven months after Ebola paralysed Liberia's capital, Friday marked 21 days since the country registered a case of the virus - offering lessons to its neighbors on the importance of surveillance and education in beating the deadly epidemic....

A massive influx of international aid, including crucial U.S. military assistance, helped Liberia to turn the tide of the outbreak.

But, notes Tariq Riebl, Oxfam's Ebola response manager in Liberia, "What got us to the endgame is that communities took things into their own hands...."

Read complete story.
http://news.yahoo.com/watch-closely-explain-frequently-liberias-ebola-lessons-184507811.html;_ylt=AwrBJR6EmAVV3D0AbnTQtDMD

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Vaccines Face Same Mistrust That Fed Ebola

Sat, 2015-03-14 14:23 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES by NORIMITSU ONISHI and SHERI FINK March 14, 2015

MONROVIA, Liberia — West Africa’s Ebola epidemic may be waning, but another outbreak in the future is a near certainty, health officials say.

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Sierra Leone's young community leaders are best weapon against Ebola

Tue, 2015-03-03 22:59 — mike kraft

COMMENTARY: Foreign leaders discussing solutions to the Ebola epidemic must acknowledge the contribution made by local workers to reduce infection rates

International response … leaders of Ebola-hit countries in west Africa and EU commissioners attend a conference in Brussels on Ebola on Tuesday 3 March. Photograph: Thierry Charlier/AFP/Getty Images

THE GUARDIAN by James Fofanah March 3, 2015

...The international community’s initial focus on a purely medical response – and a megaphone broadcast of the over-simplistic message that “Ebola is real” – was a failure, and a major reason for the rapid spread of the disease at the early-to-middle stages of the epidemic.

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The fear of Ebola led to slayings — and a whole village was punished

Sun, 2015-03-01 12:47 — mike kraft

Detailed account of the aftermath of murder by local villagers in Guinea of eight persons who came to teach about Ebola

WASHINGTON POST by Amy Brittain March 1, 2015
WOMEY, Guinea — The lecture about the dangers of Ebola had just begun, but the village had heard enough. A group of women started chanting, to warn the others against the visitors, “They are coming to kill you.” A mob of men masked their faces, waved machetes and rushed toward the speakers. Stones began to fly.

Thousands of Womey residents fled after the killings when Guinea’s military invaded and looted the vllage. More than a dozen died from malnutrition after living for months in the surrounding bushland. (Jane Hahn/For The Washington Post)

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Traditional healer called back to remove curse of first Ebola-affected village in Guinea

Thu, 2015-02-26 16:11 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS By YOUSSOUF BAH Feb. 25, 2015
MELIANDOU, Guinea (AP) — Here at ground zero of West Africa's Ebola outbreak, a local traditional healer returned to complete the removal of a curse residents believe could have been placed on their village in Guinea.

In this photo taken on Feb. 23, 2015, traditional healers, right, take part in a exorcism as villagers hand them a chicken, in Meliandou, Guinea. Here at ground zero of West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, a local traditional healer returned to complete the removal of a curse residents believe could have been placed on their village in Guinea. (AP Photo/Youssouf Bah)

It is the same village where experts believe 2-year-old Emile Ouamouno was the first person to have died from Ebola, on Dec. 28, 2013, in the outbreak that has slowed in recent months but has not been completely stamped out....Hundreds abandoned the village, believing the Ouamouno family or the entire village, was cursed, the village chief Amadou Kamano remembered.

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Sierra Leone: Increasing Community Engagement for Ebola On-Air

Fri, 2015-02-06 21:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Zainab Akiwumi in the radio studio of Radio Maria talking about the need to suspend cultural and traditional practices in times of Ebola, Sierra Leone. WHO/S. Saporito

WHO’s social mobilization team is using radio to reach communities with information about how to prevent the spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone.

who.int - February 2015

Reaching communities not just physically, but psychologically and emotionally as well

“My work as a social mobilizer is to pass on key messages to convince people to stop the cultural and traditional practices that are fuelling the spread of Ebola,” says Zainab Akiwumi, who leads the WHO social mobilization team in Sierra Leone.

One way to convey Ebola messages is using local radio stations to reach out to the community. “On radio I tell the listeners, you who are listening to me now, take this message and go outside to tell those who did not hear me what I said, as a way to spread it on,” she continues.

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