In February 2014, there was an outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Guinea, which has spread to Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone causing untold hardship and hundreds of deaths in these countries. As of 6 March 2015, a total of 24,282 cases and 9,976 deaths attributed to the EVD had been recorded across the most affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an outbreak of the EVD was also reported, but is considered of a different origin than that which has affected West Africa.
On August 8 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the West Africa Ebola crisis a “public health emergency of international concern,” Kenya was among the countries categorized by WHO as one of the countries at “level 2” of risk of transmission of the EVD.
On 5 September 2014, Kenya’s surveillance system recorded seven suspected cases of EVD, although laboratory investigations carried out by the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KEMRI/CDC) proved to be negative. Nonetheless, a decision was made to suspend flights from Nairobi to three West African countries (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) in order to control the risk posed by air travel; and triggered the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) to initiate measures in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH) to prevent and prepare for an occurrence of the virus. These included;
Conducting sensitization on EVD for staff and volunteers through information sessions and media (including email communication, briefings, and social media).
Participation in the EVD National Task Force for updates and information-sharing, as well as for national planning.
The planned activities of the operation have been finalised and up to 229 people provided with EVD related training, which equates to 150 per cent of the intended target (152) and the final financial report has now been finalised.
Tsunami Residual Funding contributed towards a full replenishment of the DREF allocated for this operation. The major donors and partners of DREF include the Australian, American and Belgian governments, the Austrian Red Cross, the Canadian Red Cross and government, Danish Red Cross and government, the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO), the Irish and the Italian governments, the Japanese Red Cross Society, the Luxembourg government, the Monaco Red Cross and government, the Netherlands Red Cross and government, the Norwegian Red Cross and government, the Spanish Government, the Swedish Red Cross and government, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the Medtronic and Z Zurich Foundations, and other corporate and private donors.
IFRC on behalf of KRCS would like to thank all partners for their continued support.