News
• Between May 9 and 13, IOM, in partnership with CDC, launched the first simulation exercise to manage potential epidemic disease cases at the Madina Oula Point of Entry (PoE), at the border with Sierra Leone. Between May 22 and 26, it launched the second simulation exercise at the PoE of Baala, near Liberia. The main objective of these exercises is to prepare the authorities in charge of the points of entry in detecting, notifying and managing any suspected case of potential epidemic disease, especially EVD cases, at their various borders.
• On the 12 May, IOM organized a ground-breaking ceremony at the Tamaransy market, a village in Boké Prefecture that was heavily affected by EVD. This activity is part of IOM’s support to the Guinean Government in the socio-economic recovery of Ebola Survivors.
• On the 14 May, in partnership with International Medical Corps (IMC), IOM officially launched Community Event-Based Surveillance (CEBS) in the prefecture of Kindia. Many prefectural health and administrative authorities participated in the ceremony, during which bicycles and two motorcycles were distributed to community health agents and their supervisors.
Epidemiological situation
On 29 March 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the end of EVD in West Africa as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
In its situation report of 26 May 2016, WHO underlined that the latest notified case in Guinea during the resurgence of Ebola in mid-March was declared Ebola negative for the second time in a row after final testing on 19 April, 2016. A period of 42 days (two incubation cycles) must be observed before the declaration of the end of the outbreak in Guinea. This period ended on 31 May.
Until then, active surveillance had been maintained. The risk of new outbreaks due to exposure to infected bodily fluids of Ebola survivors persists and requires sustained efforts to reduce it. Some of these efforts include but are not limited to sensitization activities related to potential sexual transmission from survivors to sexual partners and the importance of bodily fluid analysis.