GUINEA Ebola Situation Report
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GUINEA Ebola Situation Report 9 December 2015 UNICEF A child in Conakry is vaccinated during the third round of the polio campaign HIGHLIGHTS SITUATION IN NUMBERS As of 6 December 2015 As of 6 December 2015, Guinea had reached Day 20 of the 42-day countdown to the Ebola outbreak being declared over. There 3,804 have been no new cases of Ebola now for 38 days, keeping the Cases of Ebola (3,351 total tally of confirmed cases at 3,351. confirmed) From 5 to 8 December 2015, UNICEF supported the Ministry of Health in organizing the third round of the latest polio vaccination 2,536 campaign, targeting 2,189,521 children in 38 health districts. In Deaths (2,083 confirmed) addition to being vaccinated, all children aged 6 to 59 months received treatment for worms and vitamin A supplementation. 749 Cases among children 0-17 In the past two weeks, cash transfers were made to 37 parents (confirmed) and caretakers of 157 children (72 girls) who have lost one or both parents due to Ebola in Forécariah. The total number of orphaned 519 children provided with cash transfers is 5,781 out of 6,220 Deaths of children and youth registered children. aged 0-17 (confirmed) Activities to monitor schools after they reopened for the new 4,350,633 academic year on 9 November 2015 – particularly checking for Children in affected areas since the physical presence of teachers – are drawing to a close. the beginning of the epidemic Reports are being prepared and their contents will be duly analyzed. The reports will offer recommendations about the number of additional teachers to be hired and how best to use 134,346 the existing workforce. Children received psychosocial support USD 142 million UNICEF funding needs until December 2015 USD 33 million UNICEF funding gap (23%) 1 Leadership and Coordination The WASH Cluster is coordinating the preparation of 2016 work plans for all WASH partners to ensure that activities are harmonized. The cluster recently validated the contents of and is widely disseminating a brochure entitled “Enrichir les Projets WASH avec la Dimension Genre dans le Contexte post-Ebola en Guinée” for all partners and stakeholders. This sets out gender considerations that should be incorporated into all WASH activities. UNICEF continues to attend all strategy meetings of the National Coordination for the Ebola Response, advocating for the rights of children during the post-Ebola recovery period. WASH UNICEF, in partnership with the NGO Action for the Protection of Humanity (APH), completed the rehabilitation of 15 latrine blocks at 15 primary schools in the prefectures of Macenta and Guéckédou. UNICEF continues to supervise Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) activities to stop open defection and improve sanitation and hygiene in 400 villages in six prefectures in the Forest Region. This week 210 community leaders, who will now supervise activities, were trained in Yomou and Beyla. With the support of UNICEF, NGO Terre des Hommes (TdH) installed handwashing stations and latrines in 30 schools and 15 health centers in the Kindia region. UNICEF, in partnership with government water agency SNAPE, is planning to build 60 boreholes and latrines at health facilities in the regions of Kindia, Boké, Mamou, Labé and Nzérékoré. French NGO Charente Maritime, supported by UNICEF, is implementing a project to improve hygiene and sanitation in the prefecture of Boffa. This will include rehabilitating 63 boreholes and drilling 18 new ones. UNICEF, in partnership with the Regional Directorate of Environment, Water and Forests in Nzérékoré, has launched CLTS activities in the villages of Yombiro and Sangardo in Kissidougou. UNICEF and the NGO CEAD are conducing social mobilization activities in advance of starting manual drilling projects in 32 villages in Beyla and Nzérékoré. Health From 5 to 8 December 2015, UNICEF, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and WHO, organized the third round of the latest polio vaccination campaign, targeting 2,189,521 children in 38 health districts. In addition to being vaccinated, all children aged 6 months to 59 months received treatment for worms and vitamin A supplementation. The final results of the campaign with be announced soon. Nutrition UNICEF and partners have provided counselling and therapeutic food to 2,244 Ebola patients in treatment centres (out of 2,600 targeted) as well as ready-to-use infant formula to 2,380 infants whose mothers have been affected by Ebola. Since October 2014, UNICEF and partners provided care to 7,869 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in Ebola-affected areas in Forécariah, Kindia, Coyah, Dubréka, Boffa, Conakry, Macenta, Guéckédou, Kissidougou, Nzérékoré, Lola, Beyla, Faranah and Siguiri. As previously reported, the results of the SMART nutrition survey conducted in July 2015 revealed that the prevalence of acute malnutrition in Siguiri is very close to the crisis level of 15 per cent. A multi-partner action plan is being implemented to respond to a worrisome situation. This includes training health workers in the provision of essential nutrition supplement and drugs. 2 On 3 December 2015, the Nutrition Cluster held its regular meeting in Conakry, gathering representatives from all key humanitarian organizations, implementing partners and government. Issues discussed included: The SAM response plan in Siguiri; the cluster’s post-Ebola recovery strategy; programmatic priorities for 2016; alternatives for storage nutrition supplies now that the logistics cluster is being phased out; and Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) as there are currently 29,319 children being treated for acute malnutrition. UNICEF is printing patient registration cards and monthly report cards for health facilities to record details of all activities at health facilities. These will be distributed to 410 health centers and 38 prefectural hospitals by the end of December 2015. This means all partners working in nutrition will have standardized monitoring tools enabling better data collection and analysis. Communication for Development (C4D) and Social Mobilization In Forécariah, UNICEF and partners identified and engaged with 107 Ebola survivors – including 64 women (of whom six are pregnant) on the importance of adopting protective practices, including proper hygiene habits, to keep their families and communities safe. As part of the polio vaccination campaign, the C4D team conducted social mobilization activities to improve the population’s understanding of why immunization is so important and to reduce any reluctance parents might have about having their children vaccinated. The weekly market in Tana (the last village to be active for Ebola in Forécariah) re-opened. UNICEF social mobilizers used this opportunity to conduct a mass sensitization stressing the importance of continuing to practice proper hygiene habits that will protect the community from future Ebola outbreaks. UNICEF’S social mobilization partners sensitized 64 traditional healers in Forécariah about how important it is for them to directing all patients towards proper health centers. UNICEF participated in a cross-border meeting with the neighbouring Kambia team on 28 November 2015. With a view to maintaining vigilance and reinforcing cross-border activities, the meeting nominated a dedicated focal point in Sierra Leone for continued coordination of cross border activities and compiled a list of key personnel responsible for social mobilization and surveillance efforts in the bordering chiefdoms. Further discussions with the Forécariah platform and UNICEF team will be conducted to identify the appropriate counterparts in Guinea for the Sierra Leone team - for example, the Village Development Committees are going to be involved in Sierra Leone, and in Guinea there is not such a structure at community level. Child Protection UNICEF partners trained 60 local leaders (22 women) in the provision of psychological support to support Ebola survivors in Conakry (32 participants) and Forécariah (28 participants). This brings the total number of trained community leaders to 7,875. UNICEF and partners organized 463 community forums at which 1,124 key leaders and 5,073 other members of the general population (2,403 women) were sensitized about the importance of supporting Ebola survivors. Protection partners also organized 366 educative talks in which 3,950 people (1,884 women) participated in various prefectures throughout Guinea. UNICEF and partners organized 2,500 play and recreation sessions in which 669 children (285 girls) who had not previously participated were included. Among the new participants were two 2 girls who lost one or both parents. This brings the total number of children that have received psychosocial support to 134,346. 3 Community volunteers and social workers organized follow-up visits to families taking care of 3,388 children (1,652 girls) who have lost one or both parents due to Ebola. In the past two weeks, cash transfers were made to 37 parents and caretakers of 157 children (72 girls) who have lost one or both parents due to Ebola in Forécariah. The total number of orphaned children provided with cash transfers is 5,781 out of 6,220 registered children. Education Activities to monitor schools after they reopened for the new academic year on 9 November 2015 – particularly checking for the physical presence of teachers – are drawing to a close. Reports are being prepared and their contents will be duly analyzed. The reports will offer recommendations about the number of additional teachers to be hired and how best to use the existing workforce. UNICEF organized a ten-day field visit to Télimélé to assess the construction of tents in seven schools that don’t have adequate classrooms and to monitor whether proper hygiene protocols to prevent Ebola are being followed. Human Resources As of 9 December 2015, UNICEF Guinea has 192 staff members, of which 54 are international professionals and 138 are national staff. In addition to the main office in Conakry, UNICEF has three zonal offices in Conakry, Kankan and Nzérékoré which together have 57 employees.