This is a pre-deployment training, tailored specially to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, offered to WHO personnel, consultants, and key partners. The material covered in modules 1-4 is applicable and useful to frontline response workers, national
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and international. Only Module 5, which focuses on operational aspects - the code of conduct for international civil servants and human resources arrangements for WHO deployees, are specifically geared to all internationally recruited personnel and to WHO deployees respectively
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The number of new Ebola infections in Sierra Leone is declining, despite the outbreak continuing to claim lives. New cases have dropped to around 9-12 per week, according to recent WHO figures. There were over 500 cases per week at the height of the
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crisis around late November 2014.
The impact on the lives of the thousands of people directly affected by the disease has been devastating. It has caused substantial suffering to many others, leaving the population very vulnerable.
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Learning from the Use of Data, Information, and Digital Technologies in the West Africa Ebola Outbreak Response
Summary of research into the consequences of the Ebola outbreak for children and communities in Liberia and Sierra Leone
This study describes the range of impacts that Ebola has had on children and
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families in Liberia and Sierra Leone, looking beyond the immediate health effects
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Provisional recommendations May 2014
Interim Guidance.
A number of medical problems have been reported in survivors, including mental health issues. Ebola virus may persist in some body fluids, including semen. Ebola survivors need
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comprehensive support for the medical and psychosocial challenges they face and also to minimize the risk of continued Ebola virus transmission. WHO has developed this document to guide health services on how to provide quality care to survivors of Ebola virus disease
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The purpose of this pocketbook is to provide clear guidance on current best management practices for VHF across health-care facilities
Overview: Risk communication and community engagement are essential for any disease outbreak response. This is particularly critical during outbreaks of Ebola which may create fear in the public and frontline responders alike due to severe presentat
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ion of symptoms, misunderstanding of the causes of illness and high fatality rates. This document outlines some of the key considerations for risk communication and community engagement response to Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ebola outbreaks have been associated with misinformation and false rumours. In the context of RCCE, rumours refer to unsubstantiated information, claims or beliefs about what is causing the disease or how it can be treated/cured. If not proactively addressed in culturally appropriate ways, misinformation and rumours can lead to the further rapid spread of the disease and unnecessary deaths, severe disease, suffering, and societal and economic loss.
The publication includes a 'Rumour Tracking Tool' (Annex II).
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The World Health Organization is issuing a "roadmap" to guide and coordinate the international response to the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa.
The aim is to stop ongoing Ebola tran
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smission worldwide within 6–9 months, while rapidly managing the consequences of any further international spread. It also recognizes the need to address, in parallel, the outbreak’s broader socioeconomic impact.
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Desk Review and Recommendations for Private Sector Engagement
The goals of Ebola virus disease (EVD) surveillance during Phase 3 of the Ebola response are to promptly detect new, suspected EVD cases and deaths so as to trigger appropriate response, including r
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apid diagnosis, case isolation and management, contact tracing, safe burials, and the identification of transmission chains
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BMC Health Services Research BMC series – open, inclusive and trusted201818:251; https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3072-3
This preliminary report summarizes the impact of the Ebola epidemic on the health workforce of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It investigates the determinants of infection and describes safe practices put in place to protect health workers during
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the epidemic. The report covers the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 March 2015 and is presents findings from the 815 confirmed and probable cases for whom individual case reports were available.
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The immediate objective of the country visit to Cameroon was to ensure that the country is as operationally ready as possible to effectively and safely detect, investigate and report potential Ebola virus disease cases and to mount an effective res
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ponse that will prevent a larger outbreak. After technical working group meetings, field visits, a “table-top” exercise and a hospital-based simulation exercises were undertaken.
Key strengths and weaknesses were identified, and the following areas for improvement were proposed to the Ministry of Health: coordination, surveillance, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, rapid response teams, case management, social mobilization, laboratory, points of entry, budget, logistics.
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Effective Ebola risk communication requires respect and transparency and remains as vital
as ever. An assessment of changing communication needs and preferences in Beni, North Kivu.
In the second year of the current
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Ebola outbreak response in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), people at risk still don’t have clear answers to their questions about the disease in a language they understand. Many local health communicators are themselves confused about the disease prevention and treatment measures they promote. The language, content, and form of communication about Ebola affect how far people understand, trust and act upon it.
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