Guinea - IOM, in partnership with International Medical Corps (IMC), last week (14/05) officially launched the Community Event-Based Surveillance (CEBS) system in the Kindia Prefecture, in the south-western region of Guinea, along the border with Sierra Leone. This brings to a total of four, the number of prefectures in which IOM is currently implementing the CEBS activities, after the Boke, Forecariah and Dubreka Prefectures.

“The CEBS system is one of the top priorities for the Post-Ebola phase in the Reinforcement of Health Surveillance strategy, elaborated by the Government of Guinea and the National Coordination for the Fight against Ebola,” said Kabla Amihere, IOM Guinea Chief of Mission.

“The objective is to involve the community members in identifying and reporting any suspected cases of Ebola and other epidemic diseases to the competent authorities,” he added.

In setting up a functional CEBS system, IOM succeeded in training and equipping community volunteers and community health agents who notify health professionals of any outbreaks of health epidemics within their communities. The health professionals in turn channel the information to the appropriate authorities who then respond accordingly.

“Until now, IOM has trained and provided equipment including mobile phones, bags and bicycles to over 880 community health workers and 97 health posts and centers in four prefectures of Guinea,” said Amihere.

He added that by the end of June, eight more prefectures will be covered by the CEBS activities. A total of 3,729 community health workers will be equipped and trained and 293 Health posts and health centers, particularly in the border areas will also receive some equipment.

IOM is one of 10 partners that support the National Coordination for the Fight against Ebola (NCFB) and the Ministry of Health in implementing the Community Event-Based Surveillance. This program is part of the Health and Humanitarian Border Mobility Management (HBMM) strategy of IOM Guinea, supported by OFDA, CDC and the Government of Japan.

Since the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in March 2014, IOM Guinea has been providing logistical support to the Guinean Government through the National/Prefectural Emergency Operations Center Project (PEOC). During the crisis, IOM brought technical support to the NCFB by setting-up health control check-points at borders as well as some major highways for health screening and monitoring of travelers at border points of entry.

From March 2015 to May 2016, Guinea has recorded 3,812 confirmed, probable and suspected EVD cases, including 2,543 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. E-mail: lsimonet@iom.int