icon icon icon icon icon icon icon

CARE Scaling Up Response to Halt Spread of Ebola

A health worker waits at a checkpoint of people entering Mali.
A health worker waits at a checkpoint of people entering Mali.

Since the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, over 3,800 people have died, and more than 8,000 cases have been reported according to the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control warns that if the virus is not contained, there could be as many as 1.4 million people infected with Ebola by January 2015.

“We are fighting an invisible enemy, and as a developing country just emerging from years in civil war, we can’t get enough help right now to stop this virus,” said Alfred Makavore, CARE Technical Health Advisor in Sierra Leone.

One of the most critical ways to prevent infection is through proper hygiene, so CARE will be ramping up the next phase of its prevention efforts in Sierra Leone and Liberia to distribute soap, water buckets, gloves and chlorine; as well as demonstrating proper hand washing techniques.

“I have chlorine water and soap with me at all times, and am constantly washing my hands. I don’t shake people’s hands, and no one is allowed to enter my home without washing their hands. These are the type of preventative measures we will be encouraging others to take as well,” said Emmanuel Wilson, Procurement Officer at CARE in Liberia. “Outside every public building there are hand washing stations, and CARE staff will be helping with the distribution of hygiene materials so that eventually there will be hand washing stations outside every household as well.”

As the deadly outbreak rages on, people’s lives are at a standstill, as many are living in fear as voluntary prisoners to their homes. Children are not attending school. People’s livelihoods have been disrupted, as they can’t move about freely to buy and sell goods in the market.  The impacts of Ebola are felt by everyone in some way, and CARE is concerned about the long-term consequences the virus will have on the lives of the poor, vulnerable people who may never become infected.

“It is so frightening to watch people dying of this virus. I have a friend who recently died of Ebola and two weeks later his wife also died, and now their three-year-old son is an orphan,” said Andrew Katta, a CARE program officer in Makini, which is a community in northern Sierra Leone currently under mandatory quarantine. “Sadly, I do not know what happened to their son, because I could not go to their home to pay the traditional respects for fear of contracting the virus.”

Another important message of prevention is eliminating some traditional beliefs and practices, such as treating corpses for burial and attending funerals, as corpses are highly infectious.

These important prevention activities and hygiene promotion are critical to stopping the spread of Ebola. CARE will be conducting these activities in Sierra Leone and Liberia, including in two refugee camps where over 20,000 refugees are residing in conditions where the disease could spread quickly if an outbreak occurs.

CARE is committed to working with partners and the government to stop this deadly virus, and has already used its relationships in communities across Sierra Leone and Liberia to help educate the public on reducing transmission risk through proper hygiene. In Sierra Leone, CARE distributed 1,650 informational posters about Ebola prevention in the districts of Kambia, Tonkolili, Bombali and Koinadugu.

Resources

CARE Scaling Up Response to Halt Spread of Ebola

Since the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, over 3,800 people have died, and more than 8,000 cases have been reported according to the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control warns that if the virus is not contained, there could be as many as 1.4 million people infected with Ebola by January 2015.“We

Read More

CARE Hilton A day in the life of Sungudota Daniel

Read More

Sierra Leone & Cote d’Ivoire: A Comprehensive Approach to Maternal and Child Health Care in West Africa (May 2016)

Findings from the Learning Tour to Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire. From May 28-June 4, a group of House and Senate congressional staffers, technical experts and a media representative, traveled with CARE, and learned about the importance of U.S. investments in maternal and child health to promote better health outcomes for women and youth in West Africa.

Read More

CARE Int Tufaidike Wote Project Brief

Read More

CARE Scaling Up Response to Halt Spread of Ebola

Since the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, over 3,800 people have died, and more than 8,000 cases have been reported according to the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control warns that if the virus is not contained, there could be as many as 1.4 million people infected with Ebola by January 2015.“We

Read More

Livelihood & Food Security Technical Assistance (LIFT) II

There are an estimated 1.5 million people living with HIV in Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with prevalence rates of nearly 11% and 1%, respectively. Through the Livelihoods and Food Security Technical Assistance II (LIFT II) project, CARE works to expand access to economic opportunities for people living with HIV and their families, and in doing so helps to improve food security and financial status, so that they are able to obtain life-saving healthcare.

Read More

Improving Health Service Delivery in Cambodia

Read More

HEALTHY MOMS, HEALTHY SOCIETIES:

Findings from the CARE Learning Tour to Cambodia

Read More

Guidance for GBV Monitoring and Mitigation in Non-GBV Sectoral Programming

This document aims to address the increasing demand for clear guidance on how to practically and ethically monitor and mitigate gender-based violence (GBV) within non-emergency, international development programming, in which GBV is not a specific programmatic component. Specifically, it draws on existing GBV-related guidance, as well as input from a group of experts, to provide recommendations for preventing and/or responding to unintentional risk, threat, or violence against individuals related to programmatic interventions. These recommendations describe ways to take stock of the programmatic environment with regard to GBV in general, as well as targeted suggestions on how to track GBV-related incidents and issues throughout the program cycle.

Read More

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Families

Access to education about contraceptive methods and tools empowers women and men to plan their families, educate their children, and...

Read More

Girl Declaration

CARE is a signatory to Girl Declaration and helped with its development.

Read More

Meeting Challenges, Seeding Change

Integrating Gender and Sexuality into Maternal and Newborn Health Programming through the Inner Spaces, Outer Faces Initiative.

Read More

Integrating the Challenge of Gender Norms and Sexuality in a Maternal Health Program

CARE works with communities to improve the quality and accessibility of local health services for women and newborns.

Read More

Improving Lives through CARE’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs

The FEMME Project in Peru: Partnerships for Improved Health

Read More

CARE Haiti: Water, Sanitation & Hygiene

Increasing access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene remains the cornerstone of CARE Haiti's WASH strategy.

Read More

CARE Haiti: Health

CARE's Life Saving Interventions for Women and Girls in Haiti project has worked to protect earthquake-affected women and girls.

Read More

CARE’s Approach to Sexual, Reproductive and Maternal Health

CARE’s Approach to Sexual, Reproductive, and Maternal Health

Read More

CARE Scaling Up Response to Halt Spread of Ebola

Since the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, over 3,800 people have died, and more than 8,000 cases have been reported according to the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control warns that if the virus is not contained, there could be as many as 1.4 million people infected with Ebola by January 2015.“We

Read More
Back to Top