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Ebola threat to Guinea Bissau rises as border zone heats up
Published June 02, 2015Reuters
DAKAR ? Violent protests against Ebola controls in a north Guinea town have prompted the Red Cross to withdraw workers, undermining efforts to stop the spread of Ebola into neighboring Guinea Bissau.
...
Boke had reported no Ebola cases for months and then reported six cases within a fortnight in May, resulting in a list of more than 230 people deemed at risk of catching the haemorrhagic fever, according to the World Health Organization.
On Friday, an angry crowd attacked a police station and public buildings in the Boke's Kamsar after aid workers sought to identify a woman believed to have been in contact with an Ebola patient, residents said.
...
Two Red Cross cars and an employee's home were attacked while a warehouse containing equipment for safe Ebola burials, seen as critical to containing the virus, was incinerated.
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Ambler added that she was "very concerned" that Ebola could spread from Guinea to Guinea Bissau.
...
Already the WHO says a person who attended an Ebola funeral in Boke is thought to have returned to a fishing community in Guinea Bissau, where many Guineans commute to daily.
The IFRC has sent a team of experts there to reinforce anti-Ebola measures, it said.
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Press release
Red Cross deploys Ebola preparedness team to at risk border area of Guinea-Bissau
Accra, 28 May 2015 ? The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies (IFRC) has sent a team of experts to Guinea-Bissau after a rash of confirmed
Ebola cases in neighbouring Guinea.
Two epidemiologists and a preparedness coordinator arrived in Guinea-Bissau on the
weekend to trace contacts and prevent and prepare for a possible Ebola outbreak in the
small West African country.
?The risk is imminent so we are preparing now to be ready should the worst happen,? said
Youcef Ait Chellouche, deputy head of IFRC?s regional Ebola operation.
At least one sick person is believed to have recently crossed the border several times from
Guinea to Guinea-Bissau. Efforts to trace that person have so far been unsuccessful.
After more than 200 days of no cases in the northwestern Guinean prefecture of Boke, five
cases were recently reported. Boke is on the border with Guinea-Bissau and many people
cross the border daily to tend their fields or go to work.
?We already have a plan for trained volunteers to start social mobilization activities, and soon
we will begin training teams in how to conduct safe and dignified burials,? said Ait
Chellouche.
?With the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross, we have sent four safe
and dignified burials team kits to Guinea-Bissau to be placed in at-risk areas. The kits
contain all the materials needed to keep our teams safe should they be called in to respond,?
he added.
As part of its operations to prepare at-risk countries in the event the Ebola outbreak should
spread beyond the three main affected countries, in October 2014, IFRC released 49,168
Swiss francs from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to the Red Cross Society of
Guinea-Bissau. These funds were used to train 130 volunteers in social mobilization and
contact tracing. The Red Cross is also planning to raise community awareness of Ebola
through national radio programmes and printed materials.
?Community engagement is the key to successfully fighting Ebola, and this will be one of our
priorities,? said Ait Chellouche.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world?s largest
volunteer-based humanitarian network, reaching 150 million people each year through its 189
member National Societies. Together, IFRC acts before, during and after disasters and health
Published June 02, 2015Reuters
DAKAR ? Violent protests against Ebola controls in a north Guinea town have prompted the Red Cross to withdraw workers, undermining efforts to stop the spread of Ebola into neighboring Guinea Bissau.
...
Boke had reported no Ebola cases for months and then reported six cases within a fortnight in May, resulting in a list of more than 230 people deemed at risk of catching the haemorrhagic fever, according to the World Health Organization.
On Friday, an angry crowd attacked a police station and public buildings in the Boke's Kamsar after aid workers sought to identify a woman believed to have been in contact with an Ebola patient, residents said.
...
Two Red Cross cars and an employee's home were attacked while a warehouse containing equipment for safe Ebola burials, seen as critical to containing the virus, was incinerated.
...
Ambler added that she was "very concerned" that Ebola could spread from Guinea to Guinea Bissau.
...
Already the WHO says a person who attended an Ebola funeral in Boke is thought to have returned to a fishing community in Guinea Bissau, where many Guineans commute to daily.
The IFRC has sent a team of experts there to reinforce anti-Ebola measures, it said.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Press release
Red Cross deploys Ebola preparedness team to at risk border area of Guinea-Bissau
Accra, 28 May 2015 ? The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies (IFRC) has sent a team of experts to Guinea-Bissau after a rash of confirmed
Ebola cases in neighbouring Guinea.
Two epidemiologists and a preparedness coordinator arrived in Guinea-Bissau on the
weekend to trace contacts and prevent and prepare for a possible Ebola outbreak in the
small West African country.
?The risk is imminent so we are preparing now to be ready should the worst happen,? said
Youcef Ait Chellouche, deputy head of IFRC?s regional Ebola operation.
At least one sick person is believed to have recently crossed the border several times from
Guinea to Guinea-Bissau. Efforts to trace that person have so far been unsuccessful.
After more than 200 days of no cases in the northwestern Guinean prefecture of Boke, five
cases were recently reported. Boke is on the border with Guinea-Bissau and many people
cross the border daily to tend their fields or go to work.
?We already have a plan for trained volunteers to start social mobilization activities, and soon
we will begin training teams in how to conduct safe and dignified burials,? said Ait
Chellouche.
?With the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross, we have sent four safe
and dignified burials team kits to Guinea-Bissau to be placed in at-risk areas. The kits
contain all the materials needed to keep our teams safe should they be called in to respond,?
he added.
As part of its operations to prepare at-risk countries in the event the Ebola outbreak should
spread beyond the three main affected countries, in October 2014, IFRC released 49,168
Swiss francs from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to the Red Cross Society of
Guinea-Bissau. These funds were used to train 130 volunteers in social mobilization and
contact tracing. The Red Cross is also planning to raise community awareness of Ebola
through national radio programmes and printed materials.
?Community engagement is the key to successfully fighting Ebola, and this will be one of our
priorities,? said Ait Chellouche.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world?s largest
volunteer-based humanitarian network, reaching 150 million people each year through its 189
member National Societies. Together, IFRC acts before, during and after disasters and health
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