Ebola Diaries: Lessons from Previous Ebola Outbreaks Help with the Response in Guinea

On 17 September, 150 adolescent girls trained by UNICEF and implementing partners marched across West Point community in Monrovia to launch Adolescents Leading the Intensive Fight against Ebola, or “A-LIFE”. Equipped with UNICEF-developed and Government-approved awareness materials, these girls are now going door-to-door in West Point, a slum community that has experienced high rates of Ebola infections, to educate their parents, family members and friends about Ebola and how it can be prevented. UNICEF and its partners are making every effort to ensure the girls are staying safe in the course of their outreach, which is helping reinforce key messages in a community that has experienced first-hand the suffering that Ebola causes. Nearly six months since the start of the first Ebola outbreak, over 3,500 suspected, probable and confirmed Ebola cases have been reported in all of Liberia’s 15 counties, including in the capital city of Monrovia. Alarmingly, this figure reflects an 11-fold increase in cases in the last two months alone. Sixty per cent of the probable and confirmed cases have resulted in death and, as of 26 September, 183 health workers had been affected by the disease and 92 of them had died. Raising awareness and encouraging key behaviour changes are two major tactics in the battle against this deadly disease, but they are not the only tactics. Ensuring Liberians are equipped with the hygienic materials they need to protect themselves against the virus; that Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) and general health facilities are stocked with life-saving medical, hygienic and sanitation supplies; and that people affected by Ebola, including children, receive the support they need to reintegrate into society and lead productive lives, are all equally important interventions. UNICEF Liberia’s Health, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Supply and Child Protection experts are all heavily engaged in these facets of the national response, and will be unti