Highlights:
· As of 28 October 2015, Liberia has reached day 55 of the 90 days of active surveillance and has been free of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) since 3 September 2015.
· The third round of the three-day Integrated national polio, vitamin A and deworming campaign concluded on 26 October 2015 in most parts of the country, with the exception Maryland County which deferred the start date by two days. UNICEF supported social mobilization activities for the campaign and in the preceding week, among other activities, conducted advocacy meetings at national and sub-national levels and distributed communication materials, including leaflets, posters, banners and t-shirts to all counties. Close to 1,800 frontline mobilizers were deployed across the country before and during the campaign. Preliminary field reports indicate improved community acceptance compared to the last round in June 2015.
· UNICEF continues to support the Ministry of Health (MoH) with essential health supplies as part of the restoration of health services with all 15 counties expected to benefit from the delivery of hospital beds, stretchers, blankets, rain boots and cleaning detergent.
· As a contribution to the reduction of new-born mortality burden that worsened in Liberia during the Ebola outbreak, UNICEF has supported the training of 28 skilled staff and district health officers on the Helping Babies Survive package in Bomi County from 12-16 October 2015, with Infection Prevention and Control Practices in the delivery room a key component of the curriculum.
· The distribution of teaching and learning materials continues and has so far reached 4,460 schools, benefiting 270,909 students (26 per cent of all students in Liberia) and 21,320 teachers.
· The Government of Liberia has identified 8,530 (4,032 boys and 4,498 girls) as affected by Ebola. To date, 15,758 (7,019 boys and 8,739 girls) were provided with care and support including psychosocial support (PSS).
· UNICEF Liberia participated in the World Humanitarian Summit/Global consultation held in Geneva from 16-19 October 2015, sharing lessons learned from establishing U-Report during Ebola and how it was effectively used during and after the response. The organizers of the summit have requested a similar presentation be made during the final summit planned in 2016.