Summary The West Africa Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak is the largest and most widespread in history, both in terms of caseload and geographical spread. The first outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013 and thereafter spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
January 2015: Emergency Appeal Revision 1 available here.
March 2015: Six Months update available here.
October 2015: Combined Operations Update No. 27 issued and available here.
Since the first cases were confirmed, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, comprising National Red Cross Red Crescent Societies, the IFRC Secretariat and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have been an essential component of the extensive global effort mobilized to stop the epidemic.
Six Emergency Appeals were launched to respond to and combat EVD outbreaks in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal and the Ebola Global Coordination and Preparedness Appeal. Three Appeals in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are still active whilst coordination and technical support continues at the regional level. Smaller preparedness and response operations were financed by the IFRC Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) in Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Togo, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Kenya, Guinea Bissau and Ethiopia. In total, 16 countries in Africa launched emergency operations relating to this outbreak.
Three out of 16 countries in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) are affected by the EVD. Nevertheless, it is having an economic impact not only on these affected countries but many others in the region. The EVD outbreak is currently ongoing in the following 2 countries: Guinea and Sierra Leone, and has caused significant mortality, with reported rates up 70%.
This 12 month update seeks to review how National Societies in West Africa were able to improve their capacity in helping stop the EVD epidemic while working with Ministries of Health and other Partners in response to the needs. In addition, essential regional and global-level coordination and support was provided to the Movement’s Ebola response and preparedness activities, summarised under the outcomes and outputs listed from page 6 below.
A Real Time Evaluation (RTE) was commissioned by the IFRC Secretariat to assess the Red Cross response to the 2014 Ebola crisis in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia from March 2014. The intention of the RTE was specifically to look at implementation issues, with a focus to improving the on-going and future response needs of affected populations. The scope included the assessment of activities to improve the response to affected populations, stakeholders, partners and donors, building on lessons learnt so far in this outbreak.
Reports indicate that critical projects have stalled in various sectors as a result of Ebola across West Africa. The sectors most likely to be affected are trade, tourism and agriculture. It is therefore important to revise this Emergency Appeal for those in the worst-hit nations of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, as the economic impact will be felt for a long time to come. It is therefore envisaged that this Emergency Appeal will be revised to reflect the changing epidemiological situation in West Africa, in which transmission is declining and EVD operations in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are scaling down their response activities and transitioning to early recovery programming. After more than one year of emergency response activity, the EVD operation will integrate into the existing IFRC Africa Zone structure, while maintaining coordination and preparedness functions and enhancing documentation, evaluation and research of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement EVD response in collaboration as appropriate with external partners. The regional and global EVD operation structure, located in Accra and Geneva, will close by the end of the year but IFRC country operations will continue to be guided by a regional approach and strategy, and supported in a range of technical areas.