Guidelines for planning and provision of pastoral and social support services
What are the local beliefs and practices around illnesses and death, the transmission of disease and spirituality, which affect decision-making (around health-seeking behaviour, caring for relatives and nature of burials) and can inform effective behaviour change interventions for preventing Ebola i...n Sierra Leone?
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Risk of spill-over of EVD to Uganda has been categorised as very high. On 28 September 2018, WHO elevated the risk at the regional level which includes Uganda from ‘high’ to ‘very high’. Uganda has a very long and largely porous border with the DRC. High population movements across the borde...rs occur for various reason including for trade, social activities and services and asylum. There are cross-border markets in several border districts in Uganda and DRC that involve thousands of people crossing into and out of DRC and Uganda for trade purposes several days in a week.
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- The goal of diagnostic testing for Ebola and Marburg virus diseases is to identify cases to provide timely and appropriate care and to stop disease transmission.
- All individuals meeting the case definition for Ebola or Marburg virus diseases should be tested.
- The recommended sample type ...for testing for orthoebolaviruses and orthomarburgviruses is whole blood or plasma for living patients, and oral swab for deceased individuals.
- Laboratory confirmation of Orthoebolavirus and Orthomarburgvirus infections and further species identification should be done using nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT).
- If a suspected case tests negative (living patient) and the blood was drawn less than 72 hours after symptom onset, a second test should be performed with blood drawn more than 72 hours after symptom onset.
- All manipulations in laboratory settings of samples originating from suspected, probable or confirmed cases of Ebola and Marburg virus diseases should be conducted with appropriate biosafety measures according to a risk-based approach.
- Whole or partial genome sequencing can be used to characterize viruses and complement epidemiologic investigations.
- Member States are strongly encouraged to share genetic sequence data (GSD) in publicly accessible databases.
- Member States are required to immediately notify the World Health Organization (WHO) under the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 of positive laboratory results.
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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 crisis around late November 2014.
The impact on t...he 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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L’OMS a mis sur pied un protocole visant à fournir des renseignements concernant la gestion sûre de l’inhumation des personnes décédées de maladie à virus Ebola suspectée ou confirmée.
Ces mesures devraient être appliquées non seulement par le personnel médical, mais également pa...r toutes les personnes jouant un rôle dans la gestion de l’inhumation des personnes décédées de maladie à virus Ebola suspectée ou confirmée.
Douze étapes ont été définies. Elles décrivent la façon dont les équipes de fossoyeurs doivent procéder pour garantir la sécurité des inhumations, depuis le moment où les équipes arrivent dans le village jusqu’à leur retour à l’hôpital ou dans leurs locaux après les procédures d’inhumation et de désinfection. Ces étapes sont fondées sur les expériences engrangées sur le terrain.
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The immediate objective of the country visit to Senegal was to build upon the public health preparedness already in place and to ensure that systems are available to investigate and report potential EVD cases and to mount an effective response to prevent a larger outbreak. The joint team for strengt...hening preparedness for EVD was composed of representatives of Senegal’s Ministry of Health, WHO, CDC, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the European Centres for Disease Prevention and Control, the Erasmus Medical Centre, Netherlands, and John Hopkins University, USA.
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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 response that will prevent a larger outbreak. After te...chnical 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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Bolkan HA, Bash-Taqi DA, Samai M, Gerdin M, von Schreeb J. Ebola and Indirect Effects on Health Service Function in Sierra Leone. PLOS Currents Outbreaks. 2014 Dec 19. Edition 1. doi: 10.1371/currents.outbreaks.0307d588df619f9c9447f8ead5b72b2d.
Inpatient health services have been severely affecte...d by the Ebola outbreak. The dramatic documented decline in facility inpatient admissions and major surgery is likely to be an underestimation. Reestablishing such care is urgent and must be a priority.
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IDS Practice Paper in Brief 16
Joint WHO/ILO Briefing Note for Workers and Employers updated 5 September 2014
- Conference summary report
Ce document présente un résumé des mesures de lutte contre l’infection et de prévention qui est destiné à toute personne prodiguant directement ou indirectement des soins à des cas suspects ou confirmés de maladie à virus Ebola dans des établissements de santé
Recommandations provisoires.
Néanmoins, les femmes enceintes atteintes d’une maladie à virus Ebola évolutive et celles ayant survécu à une telle maladie sans perdre l’enfant à naître sont susceptibles de transmettre le virus pendant l’accouchement et/ou la prise en charge des éventuel...les complications obstétricales
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This report documents the secondary humanitarian problems and impacts of large-scale Ebola outbreak on the different humanitarian sectors, to provide a non-exhaustive plan to help future responders. A large scale Ebola outbreak, in this document, refers to an epidemic with an unprecedented scale, ge...ographical spread and duration.
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Results from a High Frequency Cell Phone Survey Round 1
Cette liste de contrôle devrait aider les pays à évaluer et à tester leur niveau de préparation pour faire face à la propagation de maladie à virus Ebola. Elle doit également servir d'outil pour identifier des actions concrètes à prendre et les moyens pour la communauté internationale de ...les appuyer pour combler les lacunes potentiellement existantes.
Elle recense 10 composantes et tâches essentielles à mettre en oeuvre à la fois par les pays et la communauté internationale dans les 30, 60 et 90 jours respectivement suivant sa date de publication. Les exigences minimales en termes d'équipements et de matériel ainsi que les ressources humaines nécessaires sont définies.
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The document contains preliminary report on all aspects of WHO’s response in the Ebola outbreak. WHO Member States will discuss the report at the sixty-eighth World Health Assembly.