#Gabon: Fight against Ebola: capacity building through the Gabonese Red Cross

 

In partnership with the Ministry of Health, the National Society of the Red Cross intends to train as many as 600 volunteers in outreach methods and emergency-related hemorrhagic fever care.

"Prevention is better than cure". This is certainly imbued with the saying that the Red Cross has organized a training workshop opened by its Director General, Dr. Armel Boubindji. Coming from all provinces of the country, local coordinators activities and health of the local and provincial Gabonese Red Cross committees focal points have been trained with the objective to strengthen their response capabilities and Mediation social. In other words, as auxiliary to the public authorities, the Red Cross has planned several interventions including training that prepares focal points to be relaying information to the public. "We must acknowledge the leadership of the Red Cross. The request did not come from the Department of Health recommended that such initiatives, "said the head of the Operations Committee of response to the Ebola outbreak. "It is not to retaliate but to prepare to fight back against the Ebola virus," said Dr. Abdul Razak Safiou.

It is therefore a question of defining the role of volunteers in the event of an epidemic, build capacity for transmitting information and practical skills for community communication on Ebola. The initiative of the Red Cross should result in the formation of at least 600 volunteers who will act on the ground at the right time. For focal points and coordinators trained will in turn pass this information among volunteers in the country.

It should be noted that despite the efforts made to date by the World Health Organization (WHO), there is still a lack of human resources to support countries affected by the epidemic. Anything that has to say to this organization that "without a drastic improvement measures," there will be in the coming months, not "hundreds" of cases and deaths each week, but "thousands".

Ebola epidemic is entering a growth phase "explosive" with 20,000 people at risk of infection by November if control measures are not strengthened. WHO was well condition, September 23, a new record of 2,811 deaths in West Africa, to 5864 reported cases.

                                                                                         Gabonreview,jeudi 25 septembre 2014