Ebola prevention efforts remain active in West Africa

As nations in West Africa recover after the Ebola pandemic of 2015, monitoring efforts continue, headed by representatives of the Government of Liberia (GoL), Canada's USG Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), and other local and regional relief organizations.

A confirmed case of Ebola has not been reported in Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone since Nov. 15.

In Liberia, all high-risk Ebola contacts as of Dec. 10 had completed a 21-day course of monitoring.

As a pre-emptive strike, Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) vaccinations were offered to more than 200 Liberian citizens by the GoL and the U.S. National Institutes of Health, in cooperation with the Partnership for Research on Ebola Vaccines in Liberia (PREVAIL) project.

Efforts are continuing in Liberia to observe operations at more than 70 Liberian health care facilities, and staff adherence to Ebola-prevention protocols is being monitored. EVD response training also continues for hundreds of community health care volunteers.

The last case of confirmed EVD in Sierra Leone was in mid-September; government officials in the nation are being assisted by USAID/OFDA health advisers to monitor and continue training for EVD emergency response teams.

A contingency plan for the nation's National Ebola Response Center (NERC) was unveiled on Dec. 14. Health care facilities are keeping isolation capacity open, and three EVD treatment units, (ETUs), one of them mobile, are still in place as a precautionary measure.

In Guinea, the last case of EVD was reported in late October. The government of the nation, in cooperation with representatives from USAID/OFDA, UNICEF and WHO, conducted a workshop to train workers on EVD vaccines.

Testing is ongoing on blood and oral-swab samples taken from cadavers of patients who showed possible signs of EVD. The tests are taking place at eight labs, including one overseen by officials from the USG.

USAID encourages those wishing to help with Ebola eradication efforts to make monetary donations. For more information, visit www.interaction.org.