Abstract
Prior to the 2014–2015 Ebola outbreak, infection prevention and control (IPC) activities in Liberian healthcare facilities were basic. There was no national IPC guidance, nor dedicated staff at any level of government or healthcare facility (HCF) to ensure the implementation of best practices. Efforts to improve IPC early in the outbreak were ad hoc and messaging was inconsistent. In September 2014, at the height of the outbreak, the national IPC Task Force was established with a Ministry of Health (MoH) mandate to coordinate IPC response activities. A steering group of the Task Force, including representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), supported MoH leadership in implementing standardized messaging and IPC training for the health workforce. This structure, and the activities implemented under this structure, played a crucial role in the implementation of IPC practices and successful containment of the outbreak. Moving forward, a nationwide culture of IPC needs to be maintained through this governance structure in Liberia’s health system to prevent and respond to future outbreaks.
Highlights
The outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa, unprecedented in both size and duration, appears in its terminal stages as of the last quarter of 2015
Patients with symptoms of Ebola were presenting to clinics, healthcare centers and hospitals for care; healthcare workers (HCWs) all over the country had to enhance triage practices to facilitate the urgent identification and isolation of suspected cases, and provide potentially lifesaving care until they could be safely transferred to an Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU)
infection prevention and control (IPC) activities early in the outbreak Initial engagement by international and local IPC specialists with Liberian HCWs primarily focused on dispelling myths about the origins of the disease: Ebola was real; it was an infectious disease; and lives could be saved with supportive care
Summary
The outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa, unprecedented in both size and duration, appears in its terminal stages as of the last quarter of 2015. Ebola outbreaks typically last no more than 3–4 months from the time of identification and involve, at a maximum, hundreds of patients This outbreak, affecting Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, resulted in greater than 28,000 reported cases, with over a third of these from Liberia [1]. The first cases in the region were identified in Guinea in March 2014 and subsequently spread across the border to Liberia when a patient, infected in Guinea, presented for treatment at Foya Borma Hospital, along the border in Lofa County. This first wave of transmission resulted in six EVD infections and demonstrated a. Due to the rapid nature of the response, some of the information reported is based upon unpublished data or personal observations
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