The invisible enemy
By: World Food Programme
Tags: Sierra Leone, Ebola, Guinea, Liberia

GUINEA 21–27 FEBRUARY 2015

At the end of February, the critical Ebola situation subsided with only one proven case of Ebola treatment from Lola.

WFP continues to provide general food distribution to victims of the Ebola epidemic and vulnerable people in communities such as N‘Zérékoré, Kankan and Forecariah where WFP is supporting contact cases, patients in Ebola Treatment Units (ETU) and Ebola survivors.

WFP General food distribution in the villages in the area around N’Zerekore

Good hygienic practices and access to food are the first basic weapons to fight the deadly virus

Workers at the distribution point prepare the rations before the people come in to collect them

WFP supports communities once they are Ebola free, by providing them with two to four months of food assistance to help

In N’Zerekore women at home with their monthly food ration that includes 50kg rice, pulses, oil, Super Cereal and salt

United Nations Humanitarian Air Service secures transport for the entire humanitarian community tackling the Ebola virus

MOTHERS ENDURE AS EBOLA SURVIVORS

Aisha and Ahmadou are both mothers and Ebola survivors. Aisha’s story is a heartbreaking one. Still wearing her blue bereavement colours she retells how she has lost three of her children, her husband and her daughter to the epidemic. Left a widow raising her three surviving children and grandson alone, Aisha now receives WFP food assistance to help her care for her family.

Ahmadou’s story begins with the kind act of caring for her pregnant daughter. It was during this act that she came in contact with the infectious Ebola virus. She was taken to the treatment center in Kerouani in December with 29 other patients and became one of nine survivors. Ahmadou is very grateful for the food assistance that she receives and shares with her husband and four children. Her children all go to school apart from her 28 year-old daughter who works and helps as much as she can from a nearby village. “Baraka” (thank you) she said.

Aisha

Aisha’s grandson enjoys a packet of Supplementary Plumpy provided by WFP

Ahmadou

A patient free Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in Kankan

Schools in Guinea are all being equipped with sanitary measures that will help avoid the risk of infection.

WFP Programme Officer Ahmadou Doubayacamara, washes his hands with the children entering school to show good practice

HUMANITARIAN FOOD DISTRIBUTION SIERRA LEONE, MARCH 2015

General Food Distribution (GFD) in Lagor Community, Lower Banta Chiefdom.

WFP and its implementing partner, Community Integrated Development Organization (CIDO), are providing food assistance for the next several weeks in several hot-spot communities in this chiefdom where the majority of new Ebola cases came from.

WFP and Caritas staff preparing to distribute food to three villages in Moyamba

Heading home with the newly received food ration

Sharing a meal

A Norwegian funded basecamp and Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) in Moyamba (below). The basecamp has been built by the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) to “help the helpers”, providing hygiene, food and accommodation for the humanitarian workers in the ETC or those undertaking work in response to the Ebola pandemic.

Health workers starting the day in the mist at the Ebola Treatment centre (ETC) in Moyamba

Ricky Kufa, Head of Sub Office working in the evening at the Norwegian base camp in Moyamba

General Food Distribution in Pamlap Village, Makari Gbanti Chiefdom, Bombali District

WFP along with its implementing partner, Caritas, give life-saving food assistance in several high-priority communities in this chiefdom where the majority of new Ebola cases are being reported. On the day of the visit, 20 metric tons of assorted food commodities (rice, beans, SuperCereal, salt, oil) were distributed to approximately 400 households with distributions ongoing to reach all targeted households in the community. Those who receive food assistance must wash their hands and have their temperature taken before proceeding to register at the food distribution point.

standing in line to receive their one month food ration

The physically disabled are the first persons to receive the food rations

WFP is providing 30 days worth of crucial food aid to all quarantined families, as requested by the District Ebola Response Centre (DERC). These commodities will help meet the fundamental nutritional demands and reduce the need to move outside their quarantine to find food.

Other partners are providing non-food items to support the quarantine period. One of the main challenges WFP faces in responding to the needs of quarantined households is lack of information or correct information from the surveillance teams that do the line listing/registration. In many cases, the head of the household or landlord and family are registered while other tenants in the compound are sometimes missed. When WFP delivers the food (done in 24 hours), additional beneficiaries are identified and the registration must be re-done by the surveillance teams. In other cases, the information flow from the DERC is slow, resulting in several days between the date of quarantine and the date of food delivery. WFP is working with partners to improve the communications structure.

Early morning food loading for the distribution to quarantined households

The boundaries of quarantined households are marked with red and white tape

Registering the people who live in a quarantined household

INFECTIOUS DISEASE CARE FACILITY — LIBERIA, MARCH 2015

Monrovia

With its expertise in logistics, WFP has been given the job of coordinating logistics for the entire humanitarian community involved in the Ebola response through the Logistics Cluster. For example, the WFP logistics team in Monrovia built four Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) as well as other units in other areas of the country.

In Monrovia the grounds of the Samuel K. Doe Stadium were designated to host the ETUs as well as the logistics cluster warehouse where items pertaining to all the humanitarian players involved are stored, dispatched and managed by WFP. With the confirmed cases steadily decreasing it was decided that WFP, with support from the German Red Cross (DRK) and the German Army, would transform one ETU into a Severe Infection Temporary Treatment Unit (SITTU) to fill a gap in infectious disease care.

The SITTU is designed to accept patients with symptoms consistent with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) but not yet confirmed — an important gap to cover, given that much of the Liberian health system ceased providing non-Ebola related health services during the acute stages of the outbreak.

A second ETU has been transformed into a major training center for new health workers that will be deployed around the entire country. The SITTU accepts both walk-ins and referrals from other health facilities. Once at the SITTU, patients who test positive for Ebola will be transferred to an ETU; patients who test negative will be treated for other infectious diseases. Those with no symptoms will be transferred to a health facility. The SITTU is intended to improve the level of clinical care for infectious non Ebola affected patients as well as reducing risk for non-Ebola affected patients who may otherwise seek care at an ETU.

Special effort has been put into making the SITTU as welcoming as possible

A child under treatment collects his lunch from a slide that avoids unnecessary contact between patients

Bomi County

Tombekai is a 124 person village in Bomi, Liberia with three Ebola cases resulting in death and one female survivor, Miatta.

During the early part of the outbreak, many of the villagers fled for fear of being quarantined. Eventually, all of the villagers returned to Tombekai where farming is slowly being revived and stability is strengthening.

Thanks to WFP’s food intervention Bomi’s children, including children from Tombekai, are also resuming those schools declared safe and compliant. WFP’s school meals provide the essential nutrients children require, encourages attendance and improves their cognivitive abilities — they can focus on learning, rather than on when and where their next meal will come from.