Guinea - When a new cluster of two Ebola cases was confirmed in Koropara, in Guinea’s remote Nzérékoré region on March 16th, IOM field staff responded quickly by establishing two health screening points at the entry and exit points of the village as a key component of the Guinean Rapid Response Mechanism aimed at detecting and managing ill travelers and prevent further spread of the virus through human mobility.

During the following days, at the request of the Government of Guinea and the National Coordination of the Fight against Ebola (CNLE), IOM participated actively in the launching of a ‘soft ring containment’ of Koropara to identify and follow-up contacts of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) cases.

“The swift establishment of Ebola containment measures in Koropara was made possible by the close cooperation of local authorities, partners and IOM staff who had been working with health and security personnel in the region to reinforce emergency preparedness and response mechanisms, since Guinea was officially declared Ebola free in late December of 2015,” explained Kabla Amihere, Chief of Mission of IOM Guinea.

With IOM logistics support, CNLE has placed Koropara under ‘soft ring containment’, a designation that entails strictly enforced entry and exit screening and registration of Koropora residents for 21 days - the maximum incubation period for the virus.

“Twenty-one IOM staffers are currently participating in the ‘soft ring containment’ by carrying out health screening at three road points in Koropora and the nearby suburb of Koroh. They will all sleep in Koropara during that period, working closely with 21 local volunteers they trained and equipped,” added Amihere.

Koroh was included in the current operation surveillance zone after members of IOM’s information management team identified it as a point of epidemiological vulnerability due to mobility. Since the resurgence of this new outbreak, IOM produced 17 maps to support CNLE and its partners in developing its response strategy.

As of March 31st, eight people were confirmed to have died from Ebola in the area of Koropara, where the current outbreak originated.

With support from the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Japan and Belgium, IOM Guinea provides logistics support to the Guinean Government through the National/Prefectural Emergency Operation Center Project.

During the Ebola crisis in Guinea, within its Health, Border and Mobility Management (HBMM) program, IOM brought in technical support to draft border health strategies and was partner lead for the cross-border group and cross-border collaboration.

It provided technical support to CNLE by installing health control measures at borders, as well as some major highways and other hotspots known to be at higher risk of virus spread due to human mobility,for health screening and monitoring of travelers. It also  sensitized the population to Ebola through community-based surveillance activities.

From March 2015 to this new Ebola outbreak, Guinea recorded 3,812 confirmed, probable and suspected EVD cases, including 2,543 deaths, indicating a mortality average 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