Guinea - IOM, in partnership with Plan International, this week launched a Community Event-Based Surveillance (CEBS) system in the Forest region prefecture of Macenta on the Guinea-Liberia border to combat the spread of Ebola. The project is funded by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

“The Forest region was the part of Guinea most affected by the Ebola outbreak,” explained Kabla Amihere, IOM’s Chief of Mission in Guinea. “In March, there was a resurgence of the epidemic in Koropara, Nzerekore prefecture, but Macenta was also affected. Those prefectures are both in the Forest region. It is therefore very important for the government to reinforce health surveillance in that area.”

IOM has already implemented this program in five prefectures – Boke, Forecariah, Dubreka, Kindia and Boffa. It plans to implement it in three more – Guéckédou, Lola and Yomou. The objective is to support the community in identifying and notifying any suspected cases of Ebola and other epidemic diseases to health authorities.

To be functional, the CEBS system must be accompanied with trainings and distributions of equipment to the community volunteers, community health workers and their supervisors, the health authorities. They receive phones with solar chargers, bicycles and bags. The supervisors receive motorcycles. The health posts and centers are also equipped with office supplies and materials. 

“In the Forest region, IOM has trained and equipped 902 community health workers and 46 supervisors. Some 115 health posts and centers have been equipped with phones and office supplies,” said Amihere.

IOM is one of the ten partners that supports Guinea’s National Coordination of the Fight against Ebola and the Ministry of Health in implementing the CEBS program. The program is part of IOM Guinea’s Health Border and Mobility Management (HBMM) strategy, supported by USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), CDC and the Government of Japan.

Since the Ebola outbreak in March 2014, IOM Guinea has provided logistical support to the Guinean government through the National/Prefectural Emergency Operation Center Project (PEOC). During the crisis, IOM provided technical support to the National Coordination body by setting-up health control check-points at borders, as well as on some major highways for health screening and monitoring of travelers at border points of entry.

From March 2015 to May 2016, Guinea recorded 3,814 confirmed, probable and suspected Ebola cases, including 2,544 deaths, indicating a death rate of 66.7 percent.

For further information, please contact Lola Simonet at IOM Guinea, Tel. +224 625 25 94 94. Email: lsimonet@iom.int