UNMEER [UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response] @UNMEER #EbolaResponse

Editor’s Note: UNMEER’s website is aggregating and presenting content from various sources including its own External Situation Reports, press releases, statements and other formats.
We present a composite below from the week ending 7 February 2015. We also note that 1) a regular information category in these reports – human rights – has apparently eliminated as it no longer appears in any of the continuing updates, and 2) the content level of these reports continues, in our view, to trend less informative and less coherent. We will review continuing coverage of this material over the next few weeks.

UNMEER External Situation Reports
UNMEER External Situation Reports are issued daily (excepting Saturday) with content organized under these headings:
– Highlights
– Key Political and Economic Developments
– Human Rights
– Response Efforts and Health
– Logistics
– Outreach and Education
– Resource Mobilisation
– Essential Services
– Upcoming Events
The “Week in Review” will present highly-selected elements of interest from these reports. The full daily report is available as a pdf using the link provided by the report date.

:: 07 Feb 2015 UNMEER External Situation Reports
No report posted.

:: 05 Feb 2015 UNMEER External Situation Report
KEY POINTS
:: Case incidence increased in all three countries for the first time this year
:: Community resistance remains a concern in pockets of affected countries
:: Logistics Cluster continues to coordinate delivery of critical relief items
Response Efforts and Health
4. Continued community resistance, increasing geographical spread in Guinea and widespread transmission in Sierra Leone, and a rise in incidence show that the EVD response still faces significant challenges. A total of 10 of 34 prefectures in Guinea reported at least one security incident or other form of refusal to cooperate in the week to 1 February. No counties in Liberia and 3 districts in Sierra Leone reported at least one similar incident during the week to 27 January. As the wet season approaches, there is an urgent need to end the outbreak in as wide an area as possible, especially in remote areas that will become more difficult to access.
8. In Sierra Leone, UNDP and UNMEER continue to provide support to the efforts of the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC), to implement the revised Hazard Policy payment aimed at re-classifying Ebola Response Workers (ERWs) based on real risks and further ensuring fiduciary sustainability and compliance. Biometric verification of ERWs commenced last week in Western Area. As of 1 February about 10,000 ERWs were verified, with several fraudulent ERWs in the Western Area discovered and reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Essential Services
16. The Periodic Intensified Routine Immunization (PIRI) campaign teams reported community resistance in some parts of the districts at the IMS meeting in Grand Gedeh County. The misconception about Ebola vaccines trials, ongoing in Monrovia, persists in various districts (Cavalla, Gbao and Putu districts) where some of the town chiefs rejected the vaccination exercise in their communities.

:: 04 Feb 2015 UNMEER External Situation Report
Logistics
8. WFP, in coordination with the Government of Liberia, UNMEER and UNICEF, is providing logistics support for the transportation of WASH supplies for the safe re-opening of schools in Liberia. Dispatches are planned to commence on 4 February in Nimba County and are planned to be completed in all 15 counties by 15 February ahead of the school start date on 2 March. Dispatches will be conducted by road, air and sea transport. In total over 7,000 kits (some 2,700m3) will be delivered to over 4,000 schools serving one million students.
9. The WFP-led Emergency Telecommunications Cluster is providing Internet access for 1,112 humanitarian staff in 59 locations across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Essential Services
15. UNICEF Guinea distributed more than 31,720 household hygiene kits to 222,040 people in Ebola-affected areas. This brings the total number of household kits distributed since the beginning of the outbreak to 81,252 and the number of beneficiaries to 568,764. In support of government efforts as students returned to schools and universities, UNICEF distributed 25,800 school hygiene kits benefitting 1,467,252 students.
17. UNMEER facilitated a rapid assessment of three border crossing points along the Liberia/Bong country – Guinea border, namely Jowah, Gboata and Garmu. The joint team composed of the CDC and UNMEER was led by the Director of Operations in the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN), Liberia. The joint team interacted with border officials who reported the crossing were officially closed in July 2014, but illegal crossings continue due to extensive family, cultural and economic ties on both sides. The border officials reported that each border post is manned by 10-15 personnel, which is insufficient for ensuring the necessary patrolling of the border area. The CDC experts also held extensive discussions with the medical personnel at Joseph Clinic in Jowah, a regional medical facility that provides medical care for the population across 5 areas, including to patients from Guinea (especially before the outbreak). Medical personnel at Jowah Clinic emphasized the need for a joint health team and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) resources before officially re-opening the borders.

:: 03 Feb 2015 UNMEER External Situation Report
Key Political and Economic Developments
1. WHO reports that 3 phase III trial collaborations are planned: a ring vaccination trial in Guinea, organized through a large international collaboration including WHO and MSF; a randomized-controlled trial in Liberia, under a Liberian government–US-NIH collaboration, due to begin week of 2 February; and a stepped-wedge trial in Sierra Leone under a Sierra Leonean-US-CDC collaboration. Strong emphasis is being given to effective communication and engagement with communities to build trust, address concerns about clinical trials and vaccination campaigns and ensure that volunteers can make informed choices. WHO will continue its facilitator role as trials move forward, in particular by ensuring that national regulatory oversight and patient safety remain top priorities. WHO’s efforts in R&D for Ebola have had one overriding objective: to help end the epidemic and provide insurance against future epidemics.
3. The Ministry of Education in Liberia has postponed the reopening of schools to allow for continued preparation for the safe re-opening of schools. Schools were initially planned to re-open on 2 February.

:: 02 Feb 2015 UNMEER External Situation Report
Response Efforts and Health
5. In the previous week, WFP supplied food commodities to quarantined households and six quarantined communities in Port Loko District, Sierra Leone. In addition, WFP provided one month rations in Kenema Township where 29 new households were recently quarantined and to hotspots in Kono District. With CIDO, WFP completed food distributions for over 5,800 beneficiaries in Rotifunk community in Moyamba.