The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa placed thousands of people at risk for infection, with its high morbidity and mortality rates. The Ebola social mobilisation (community engagement) effort was led by UNICEF, WHO’s African Regional Office, the MoH, and other national and international organisations. In the beginning, all organisations were taking action with little coordination.
In an effort to assure better coordination, avoid response activity overlap, and protect communities from confusion, the local health teams and their partners conducted a meeting twice a week. This meeting was to organise activities by geographic location, organisations responsible for the activities, and the intended deliverables to the communities. To assure timely responsiveness to Lofa County communities, surveillance officers reported data on the “current situation.” The coordination teams and local organisations used this data to inform their response effort (e.g., targeting the areas where there were high rates of infection). This was done to support intersectoral action among the different organisations in an effort to control the spread of Ebola at the family, village, and county levels.
[SOURCE: WHO (Kenya), WHO African Regional Office, Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, and Urban Nutrition Working Group]