Sierra Leone

Getting to Zero: Lessons on Ebola and Global Health Security

mnathe — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 23:04:30 +0000

Getting to Zero: Lessons on Ebola and Global Health Security mnathe November 16, 2018

November 20, 2018

We sat down with Oliver Johnson to find out how West Africa's 2014 outbreak is informing DRC's today.

As news from the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) worsens, how can the lessons from the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak help?

I sat down with Dr. Oliver Johnson, coauthor of Getting to Zero: A Doctor and a Diplomat on the Ebola Frontline, who worked on the frontlines of the West Africa outbreak, to find out. He stressed that while we’ve learned a lot about Ebola, most of it has involved technical aspects, such as the medical innovations and treatment practices we’re now seeing in the DRC—but we haven’t yet learned to navigate the damage caused by political complexities, which vary by country and context.

We often respond to exactly what has come before, rather than being ready for the uncertain.

Earlier today you said that rather than focusing on preparing for the next Ebola outbreak, we should instead be preparing for the unexpected. What does this look like in practice, and how can policy-makers act on this?

We need to maintain flexibility in our systems and our responses. We often respond to exactly what has come before, rather than being ready for the uncertain. After the West Africa Ebola outbreak, organizations developed the perfect personal protective equipment (PPE) suit, and they wanted to stock these around the world. But this would reduce their flexibility and leave them unprepared if the next disease, for example, were airborne.

Headquarters need to ask themselves what their appetite for risk is. They need to have a breadth of resources at the ready, and they need to be comfortable with uncertainty, choosing to trust their teams in the field and support them as needed.

You spoke earlier of the lack of trust at all levels during the West Africa outbreak. What can be done to restore trust between governments, health workers, and individual communities?

The question is partly how to create a government that is accountable to the people, and perceived as such, but also how to restore the trust between health workers and the public. In countries like Sierra Leone, health workers sometimes have a bad reputation for mistreating patients and demanding additional payments.

We must always remember to ask ourselves “What would I do if this were me?”

While much of this work should be done domestically, the international community does have a role to play in heightening accountability and improving trust, by:

Investing in initiatives that boost accountability, supporting ministries and the health workforce, and ensuring staff are paid on time.
Not inadvertently encouraging absenteeism, bribery, or corruption through our programming.
Being accountable with salaries and ensuring that all national health workers are paid in emergencies.

While international staff received their salaries during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, many health workers here in Sierra Leone have still never received their full pay. Photo of Dr. Oliver Johnson assisting a colleague courtesy of King's College London.

It’s easy to think there is not time to listen, but what we discovered is that we didn’t have time not to listen. Photo of Connaught Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photo courtesy of King's College London.

Your book highlights the failure to engage communities in the Ebola response in West Africa. How can those responding to an outbreak ensure true community engagement while also operating at scale?

We need to listen more. We should not go in with a megaphone, but instead go to community meetings and wait until everyone has had a chance to speak. It’s easy to think there is not time to listen, but what we discovered is that we didn’t have time not to listen. We should have employed people in community engagement, precisely for their listening skills, not for their shouting skills.

We must always remember to ask ourselves “What would I do if this were me?” During the West Africa outbreak, clinicians would become exasperated when parents avoided the official advice not to touch their sick children, but we should have realized that if this were our child, of course we would touch them!

We were far too focused on a medical response, rather than trying to understand the people who were affected and remembering to empathize. Anthropologists and human rights organizations should have an active presence during crises, participating in key meetings and helping us design better responses from the beginning.

Could you highlight some of the disparities between international and national frontline health workers during the response?

While international staff were employed by international organizations responsible for their salaries, many Sierra Leonean health workers have still never received their full pay. We need an organization that specializes in setting up rapid and secure payment schemes to ensure local staff are fairly paid in emergency settings.

The biggest inequity was with quality of care. International staff would be medically evacuated when they fell ill, but not local staff. There was a double standard. We should have invested more in improving the standard of care that all national responders could access. The local staff felt betrayed by this, and they were angry a lot of the time.

We didn’t do enough to recognize the stigma faced by national staff. We had nurses who were kicked out of their family homes because their relatives were terrified they would bring Ebola home. The trauma faced by international staff was real, but it was nothing compared to that faced by national staff.

As Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea rebuild their health systems, what should they prioritize?

A health system is made up of people. We need to invest in health workers and improve their working conditions. This should include investing in community health worker models, as they—along with nurses—are the backbone of primary care.

We need to recognize that strengthening health systems is a political process as well as a technical one. Accountability and transparency from national ministries as well as NGOs and donors are vital in building mutual trust. Improving these would encourage donors to invest in government health systems, rather than in parallel programs. Then a virtuous cycle would begin, where the capacity of the ministry and the health workforce would grow. The core shift must occur here, and everything else will follow.

We have a responsibility to learn these lessons.

Top lessons from West Africa

In their new book, Johnson and coauthor Sinead Walsh, the former Irish Ambassador to Sierra Leone and Liberia, highlight some of the core failings of the response to the West Africa Ebola outbreak. Their book explores these top lessons from West Africa:

Community engagement and a people-centered response were crucial.
Strong leadership and coordination are essential.
Response efforts at all levels must be transparent and accountable.
We must work within government health systems, and keep government health workers front and center.

As an international community, we have a responsibility to learn these lessons, and urge investment in and support for frontline health workers around the world. We must remember the damaging impact that politics can have on response efforts and encourage all parties to prioritize health and human life over their own agendas.

The fragile security setting, and presence of armed groups, remains the biggest threat to containing the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC.

By Jessica Turner

Former Global Health Corps fellow, IntraHealth International

Ebola Policy & Advocacy Global health security Health in Conflict Democratic Republic of the Congo Sierra Leone

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Picture It: All eyes on iHRIS

intrahealth — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 19:13:44 +0000

Picture It: All eyes on iHRIS

intrahealth October 10, 2017

Health Workers Pay the Ultimate Price in the Fight against Ebola

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 13:43:44 +0000

Health Workers Pay the Ultimate Price in the Fight against Ebola

Anonymous (not verified) September 27, 2016

July 29, 2014

“I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life," said Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, one of the leading doctors fighting the spread of the Ebola virus in eastern Sierra Leone.

Last week, Dr. Khan’s fears came true when he was diagnosed with Ebola virus disease. He succumbed to the deadly disease yesterday and died at the very same hospital in Kenema where, just a few weeks ago, he was treating patients from the nearby district of Kailahun.

Dr. Khan is only one among a growing list of medical workers who have been infected while battling the spread of Ebola across West Africa.

In Sierra Leone, 40 nurses and other frontline health workers have died in the line of duty.

In neighboring Liberia, two prominent doctors—Dr Samuel Brisbane, a Liberian doctor, and Dr. Kent Brantley, an American doctor from North Carolina working for Samaritan’s Purse—have been infected with the disease while treating patients.

The disease has a fatality rate of up to 90%.

Losing Dr. Kahn is an immeasurable loss to Sierra Leone. According to the Ministry of Health, he has treated more than 100 victims since the first reports of the Ebola outbreak back in February.

The disease has a fatality rate of up to 90% and has claimed the lives of more than 600 people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone’s health care system is already underfunded and understaffed, and now the Ebola outbreak is putting a strain on the country’s limited resources.

In Liberia and Guinea, the response to Ebola has inundated their respective health systems and disrupted cross-border commercial activities—the main lifeline of border communities.

Liberia has announced the closure of its land borders with Guinea and Sierra Leone and has stepped up surveillance at all airports.

According to the World Health Organization, Sierra Leone is among 83 countries facing a health worker crisis. The mounting death toll of health workers is only going to exacerbate the already perilous situation. The outbreak’s effects will linger long after the epidemic is brought under control.

Sierra Leone is rife with rumors of health workers infecting patients, and families have at times violently attacked hospital staff.

Moreover, the reputation of health workers is taking a hit. Sierra Leone is rife with rumors of health workers infecting patients, and families have at times violently attacked hospital staff and removed family members from hospitals. This has, of course, contributed to the spread of the disease in other parts of the country.

The long-term consequence of all this is that Sierra Leone’s health system will be weakened even further, reversing gains in providing essential life-saving interventions, especially for pregnancy and newborn services, and access to the care, treatment, and prevention of highly prevalent diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.

By Mohamed Jallow

Former grants officer, IntraHealth International

Workplace Safety Ebola Physicians Sierra Leone

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In Sierra Leone, Life and Health Systems Grind to a Halt as Ebola Rages On

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 13:43:30 +0000

In Sierra Leone, Life and Health Systems Grind to a Halt as Ebola Rages On

Anonymous (not verified) September 27, 2016

January 14, 2015

A native of Sierra Leone, Mohamed Jallow now works as a grants officer in the finance division at IntraHealth International in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. But he grew up in Koidu, Kono District, Sierra Leone, in one of the regions now most affected by Ebola.

He sat down with VITAL to talk about the situation in Sierra Leone and the country’s progress so far.

VITAL: What was health care like in Sierra Leone when you were growing up?

MJ: Life in Sierra Leone was difficult, and anyone who grew up there knows that life was a constant struggle even before the arrival of Ebola. I still have memories of the ever-present malaria, the occasional outbreaks of cholera and Lassa fever, and the everyday travails of maternal and child health.

For years, Sierra Leone has been defined by the horrible civil war that took place there from 1991 to 2002. The war had a deep effect on all aspects of life, including the very important issue of health care and access to it.

As one of the poorest countries in the world, Sierra Leone has struggled to provide basic health care for its citizens. According to the WHO, the country’s health sector faces a shortage of health workers, poor skills mix in the health workers that do exist, a demotivated workforce, and a high attrition rate.

If you have something serious—then just prepare to die.

However, even with all this, the country was making progress in addressing the critical gaps in its health system—until the arrival of Ebola.

The current government has championed maternal and child health, and has invested considerable capital in making health care free for pregnant women and infants. But Ebola has turned the clock back. The country was unprepared for the monumental work of an outbreak. The already inadequate health infrastructure became overwhelmed in a matter of weeks.

VITAL: How did the health care system affect you personally? For example, did you get sick often?

MJ: All the time. Growing up, I had all the usual ailments common in low-income countries—malaria, dysentery, and cholera, to name a few. But I was one of the lucky ones. Almost one-fifth of all children in Sierra Leone die before they reach five years old.

My hometown, Koidu, had a population of over 250,000, but only one major hospital. The hospital was often crowded, with about a hundred beds and very rudimentary services. I mean, there was nothing there. When we got sick, we had to take our own paper for the doctors to write on. There were no medications. People often died—and still do—from simple things there.

This, added to destruction from the war, meant that only the basics were available. If you have something serious—then just prepare to die.

The hospitals became notorious as places for infection, so many people shy away from them. This legacy, as well as the lack of support for the national health system, contributed to the spread of Ebola when the outbreak started.

VITAL: How has that type of fear affected Sierra Leone’s Ebola response?

MJ: In the beginning, many people were reluctant to go to treatment centers if they had symptoms. Many not only distrusted the health workers, they distrusted the system.

In the beginning, some even accused health workers of giving them Ebola. That’s because health workers in Sierra Leone didn’t have proper protective gear and many did inadvertently transfer the disease. This fueled rumors about the hospitals and contributed to Ebola’s spread.

Now there's more information available and people understand. They’re saying, "Okay, health workers are not our enemies, they're trying to cure us, they're trying to take care of us."

When the system was crumbling, these people held it together.

But beyond that, there have been changes in Sierra Leoneans’ way of life, traditions, and of our relationship with the dead. It changed the routine of death itself, and the sacred burial rites common in that part of the world. Accepting these changes has been very difficult for a society that is steeped in tradition, religion, and superstition.V

ITAL: Do you know anyone who has been infected?

MJ: Luckily, none in my immediate family has been infected, but I know of people who have.

For example, Sierra Leone has probably fewer than 100 well-qualified doctors in the whole country. Therefore, those few doctors are household names. One called Dr. Willoughby died of Ebola this past December. Growing up, I heard his name all the time. It is disheartening to hear of these doctors dying.

VITAL: How has Ebola affected Sierra Leone’s health workforce?

MJ: Sierra Leone has lost hundreds of doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, and other health workers. When the system was crumbling, these people held it together. We dropped the ball when it comes to health workers on the front lines. I mean, we don’t even pay them enough for the risks they take every day. We want health workers to know that what they do is valued and that they will be protected on the job. IntraHealth’s CEO Pape Gaye, the Liberian president, and others spoke about this last month when they gave testimony before the US Congress.

VITAL: So are things now improving in Sierra Leone?

MJ: Things are slowly stabilizing, and the outbreak is slowly being brought under control. However, even a few weeks ago, the situation was very different.Now, more than 10,000 infections and over 3,000 fatalities later, the world is responding to the crisis as it should have in the first place, and new cases are finally subsiding.

One unfortunate side effect of the Ebola outbreak that did not make the news is the economic effects. In many communities, life has been brought to a standstill. People don't go to markets; children don't go to school because the schools are shut down. Routine medical checks don’t happen, and pregnant women don’t get health services. The response to and fear of Ebola have put all these issues on the back burner.

Ebola has shown us that you can never neglect the health sector in favor of economic development.

VITAL: What does all this mean for Sierra Leone today and tomorrow?

MJ: Ebola’s impact will extend beyond the obvious loss of life and effects on the health system. Before Ebola, Sierra Leone had one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. While the rest of the world hailed the country’s post-war development, it paid less attention to the precarious health situation there. Ebola has shown us that you can never neglect the health sector in favor of economic development. They go hand-in-hand.

Photo by Morgana Wingard for USAID.Also read: Special Coverage: Ebola in West Africa

By Mohamed Jallow

Former grants officer, IntraHealth International

By Margarite Nathe

Strategic communications advisor, IntraHealth International

Health Workforce & Systems Ebola Sierra Leone

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As Spirits Rise in Sierra Leone, Technology Offers More than Ebola Recovery

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 13:43:04 +0000

As Spirits Rise in Sierra Leone, Technology Offers More than Ebola Recovery Anonymous (not verified) September 27, 2016

November 20, 2015

On Saturday, November 7, the World Health Organization declared Sierra Leone Ebola-free. Hundreds flooded the streets of Freetown to celebrate and pay tribute to those whose lives were lost during the outbreak. I read about the celebrations online with joy and happiness—they’d finally made it. I could almost hear the drums playing from North Carolina.

Over the past year during my travels to Freetown, I’ve observed the struggles and hardships Ebola has caused for Sierra Leoneans. Minor inconveniences such as curfews and routine traffic stops are coupled with grief over lost family members and constant fear of infection.It has been a long, hard fight.

There is the business of recovery, but there is also the human side.

Many of my friends and colleagues in international development have worked endless hours over the past two years to help control the outbreak. During my last trip in September, everyone was noticeably tired and ready to move forward, to find normalcy again.

Recovery Is More than a Buzzword

In July, Sierra Leone’s president launched a two-year National Ebola Recovery Strategy to help the country get back on track and realize the social and economic gains that were all but erased by Ebola. The country was just finding its footing as it recovered from more than a decade of civil war when Ebola significantly set it back.The first nine months of the plan focus on restoring basic access to health care, getting kids back to school, social protection, and restoring growth through the private sector and agriculture. So much of the work I’ve observed of the government and implementing partners right now is focused on these crucial nine months.

Recovery is more than a buzzword for Sierra Leone and the other Ebola-affected countries. It’s a new way of life.

During my travels to Sierra Leone, I’ve talked to a lot of people about what recovery looks like. There is the business of recovery—reviving the economy and restoring investments in the country. But there is also the human side. What kind of stigma are Ebola survivors facing? How are families coping with the loss of their loved ones? What kinds of chronic health conditions may survivors face and where can they seek treatment? What kind of posttraumatic stress will children have, especially those orphaned by the disease? And what kind of support is there for the health workers who have been battling Ebola on the front lines, where many also contracted the virus?

mHero connects health workers to health officials, to each other, and to critical information.

We don’t have clear or easy answers to these questions. But there are solutions and a bevy of committed stakeholders eager to help Sierra Leone recover.

Stronger Health Systems and Communication through mHero

For well over a year, I have been working with global stakeholders to develop and implement such a solution—a mobile phone-based system called mHero. Through the Ebola Grand Challenge, IntraHealth International is already putting mHero into action in Liberia and Guinea, where it’s connecting health workers to health officials, to each other, and to critical information that can save lives.

Now USAID is investing to introduce the platform in Sierra Leone, too.

In addition to introducing mHero there with our partner UNICEF, we are working alongside multiple levels of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and other global partners to scale iHRIS (IntraHealth’s open source software for managing health workforce information), to build informatics capacity at the ministry, and to improve health information system interoperability. These investments align with the president’s recovery strategy to improve data collection and sharing.

Leaders in Sierra Leone are ready for mHero—and ready to take the next steps in health systems strengthening. They know that the value of health information systems during the outbreak was limited by the timeliness, completeness, and quality of their data. So now leaders seek to engineer something more robust and responsive for the future.

Through my discussions with them about iHRIS and mHero, their visions for improved information are clear. As we scale mHero, I’m optimistic they will harness this technology and find innovative ways to use it to better support frontline health workers.

The Survivors

As Sierra Leone enters this new “Ebola-free” phase, I’ve been thinking about the survivors—up to 4,000 of them in Sierra Leone alone.

During my last trip to Freetown, I learned of a woman—an Ebola survivor who lost her husband but still had a young family to care for—who needed treatment for high blood pressure. She was given money by the government to travel the two hours to Freetown to see a specialist, but after several trips to seek care, she was denied services, most likely because of the stigma she faces as a survivor. She eventually did get the treatment she needed. But for her and all of Sierra Leone, this road to recovery is filled with unexpected roadblocks.

I am very hopeful that over the next few months, our support to the ministry through iHRIS, mHero, and informatics capacity-building will lay a solid foundation for the country to construct and own a state-of-the-art health information system. It will be a celebration in the streets once again.

IntraHealth’s work in Sierra Leone is funded by USAID.

By Amanda Puckett BenDor

Former technical advisor, HRH and knowledge management, IntraHealth International

HRIS Mobile Technology Ebola Sierra Leone

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In West Africa, mHero Inspires Country-to-Country Collaboration

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 13:43:04 +0000

In West Africa, mHero Inspires Country-to-Country Collaboration Anonymous (not verified) September 27, 2016

February 04, 2016

During the Ebola crisis my fellow Sierra Leoneans and I saw how conflicting messages and misperceptions about the disease contributed to its spread.

I began working with IntraHealth International as a consultant in November 2015, right after the World Health Organization declared Sierra Leone Ebola-free. The consultancy was an opportunity for me to help improve the health system in my country. My assignment is to help the Ministry of Health and Sanitation implement two technologies.

The first is iHRIS—open source software that helps countries track and manage their health workforce data, including mobile phone numbers. The second is mHero—a mobile phone-based communications system that connects ministry staff with frontline health workers via two-way SMS text messages.

I am excited to support the ministry’s implementation of mHero and confident that it will strengthen health information systems in Sierra Leone.

Learning from Liberia’s plan

Like in Sierra Leone, the Ebola crisis severely weakened Liberia’s health sector and revealed system weaknesses, including a fragmented health information system. At the time of the outbreak, health officials found it difficult to obtain reliable information to make timely decisions. What’s more, many of the technologies that make up the larger health information system were not interconnected, meaning it was impossible to aggregate and compare data from multiple information systems easily . Implementing partners and other stakeholders had unintentionally contributed to this fragmentation by creating separate reporting systems for their projects or programs.

In Liberia and Sierra Leone, when the Ebola outbreak hit, health officials had no way to reach frontline health workers with critical information in real time.

These lessons prompted the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to draft a Health Information System (HIS) and Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) Strategic Plan last fall. All stakeholders and implementing partners must now align their efforts with the plan, complementing rather than competing with each other’s efforts. In December, I attended a workshop convened by the Liberian ministry to review the draft strategic plan and prioritize activities. In addition to representing IntraHealth at the meeting—since the ministry in Liberia is now using both iHRIS and mHero—I also hoped to learn more about how Liberia is rebuilding its health information systems so I could share their experiences back at home.

Working with the other participants and seeing how everyone worked together was eye opening and exciting. By the end of the workshop, a cohesive draft plan was completed and next steps agreed upon for the coming months.

Bringing mHero to the county level

After the meeting, I was fortunate to travel to Buchanan, a large city in the Grand Bassa county of Liberia with members from the mHero team, including Stephen Gbanyan, the Ministry’s Director of Health Management Information Systems and Hellen Greene, mHero Data Manager. Our mission was to raise awareness among human resource officers and health workers of mHero and show them how it works, so that they recognize mHero SMS when they receive them and are motivated to respond. We also talked to county-level human resource officers about future plans for mHero, which will enable them to create and send their own messages to health workers. The team in Liberia is doing a fantastic job making mHero an integral part of the health information system. During our trip to Buchanan, the human resource officer in Grand Bassa told us he was very enthusiastic about the platform. In fact, he had received SMS via mHero during the last health worker census and for a payroll verification activity.

Taking lessons back home

Working with the mHero team in Liberia was motivating and informative. I saw how the fact that a team of ministry staff—who truly champion iHRIS and mHero—leading the implementation made it easier for other health sector staff to accept the platform and see its relevance. I also saw first-hand how important getting support from senior officials at the ministry was to moving the project forward.

I look forward to continuing to learn from my colleagues and friends in Liberia as we scale iHRIS and pilot mHero in Sierra Leone. This is especially important because just one day after the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak over in West Africa on January 14, Sierra Leone recorded its first Ebola death in more than 100 days.

The potential for Ebola flare ups and other public health threats continue, so we must continue to implement mHero. But mHero is not only an essential communication platform for emergency management, providing a reliable, instantaneous communication channel for information and instructions during a crisis, it is also a vehicle for strengthening communication among health officials and health workers on a day-to-day basis, regardless of topic or urgency.

Photograph of the author and the Liberian mHero team members meeting with a county health official courtesy of Stephen Gbanyan.

By Samuel Randall

mHero data officer

Mobile Technology Ebola Liberia Sierra Leone

Photos

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Special Coverage: Ebola in West Africa

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 13:13:29 +0000

Special Coverage: Ebola in West Africa Anonymous (not verified) September 14, 2016

June 20, 2016

Between March 2014 and January 2016, Ebola virus killed more than 11,300 people, including over 500 health workers.

Protecting health workers and preparing them to address the long-term effects on Ebola survivors must be a priority. That's why IntraHealth International is working to make sure West Africa's health workforce can prevent new infections and bolster the health systems in which they work as Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone recover from the epidemic.

Together with our partners, we develop resources and tools to help affected countries support their health workforces and embark on the long road to recovery.

Photo by Morgana Wingard via CC BY-NC 2.0.

News & Features

Continued Focus Needed on Heroic Frontline Health Workers as Ebola Recovery Begins in West Africa
On January 14, 2016, the World Health Organization declared that all known chains of Ebola transmission have been stopped in West Africa. As the region transitions to recovery, country-led plans to build resilient, sustainable frontline health workforces connected to stronger health systems must be a priority.

Liberia Includes mHero in National Investment Plan for Building a Resilient Health System
Ebola was the impetus for mHero, but the platform can be used for all types of information and communication needs within the health system.

Hans, Luke, and Leah: Ebola Fighters Honored at White House Grand Challenge Event
During the White House event, Steven Van Roekel, USAID’s former chief innovation officer, used a Star Wars analogy to laud the efforts of "Hans, Luke, and Leah," referring to Hans Rosling of the Karolinska Institute, Luke Bawo of Liberia’s Ministry of Health, and Leah McManus of IntraHealth, for their work in Liberia.

IntraHealth Receives Grand Challenge Award for Ebola Response
IntraHealth will use the award to further develop and expand its mHero technology in collaboration with UNICEF and a consortium of partners.

New Analysis Highlights Cost Effectiveness of Health Workforce Scale Up in Ebola-Affected Countries
An independent analysis commissioned by the Frontline Health Workers Coalition finds that scaling up the local health workforce in West Africa is a cost-effective investment to help end the Ebola epidemic, restore essential health services, and build the resilient workforce needed to tackle future threats.

Pape Gaye Addresses US Senate Committee on the International Response to Ebola
Gaye urges the US to invest in the local health workforces at the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs hearing, “The Ebola Epidemic: The Keys to Success for the International Response.”

CNN Features mHero, an Ebola Response Tool by IntraHealth and Partners
In the article "Battling Ebola: The African Responses that 'Will Win this War'," CNN features mHero as one of the most effective ways African nations are responding to Ebola. »

Politico: Mobile Tools Could Be Vital in Ebola Fight
Dykki Settle, IntraHealth's director of health workforce informatics, shares with Politico how the new mobile platform called mHero can make a difference in Liberia's fight against Ebola.

By The Editorial Team

IntraHealth International

Liberia Sierra Leone Ebola

IntraHealth Urges WHO Executive Board to Take Urgent Action on Ebola Response and Recovery

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 12:26:12 +0000

IntraHealth Urges WHO Executive Board to Take Urgent Action on Ebola Response and Recovery Anonymous (not verified) September 13, 2016 January 26, 2015

During a special Ebola-related session of the World Health Organization (WHO) executive board yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland, IntraHealth International urged the WHO to take both immediate and long-term, sustainable action in response to the ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

The special session took place in advance of the WHO’s 136th session of the executive board, which begins today, January 26, 2015.

“The Ebola epidemic has tragically highlighted the urgent need for increased support for frontline health workers,” said IntraHealth health workforce expert Rebecca Bailey as she delivered IntraHealth’s statement in Geneva. “We urge all actors to help countries ensure workers have accurate information and personal protective equipment; timely delivery of salaries, hazard pay, and insurance during the crisis; and food, clean water, and medical care.”

IntraHealth also urged the WHO to develop and monitor global standards for public health emergency responses, including health workforce data, facility data, robust supply chains, well-functioning surveillance systems, and health worker training to support these functions.

“WHO must lead in ensuring health professional schools in Ebola-affected countries are staffed and funded for a rapid, sustainable health workforce recovery,” Bailey said.

As a non-state member in official relations with the WHO, IntraHealth also urged the organization to act on resolution 67.24, adopted in May 2014 during the World Health Assembly, to develop a costed, financed global health workforce strategy that sets specific targets, timelines, and commitments. The goal of this strategy is to ensure that, by 2030, all communities have access to competent health workers.

The WHO executive board meeting will continue through Saturday, February 3.

Read IntraHealth’s full statement.

Also read: FHWC Urges WHO Executive Board to Put Frontline Health Workers at Center of Ebola Discussions

Sierra Leone Ebola

Sierra Leone Becomes Third Country to Adopt mHero in Ebola Recovery

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 12:26:11 +0000

Sierra Leone Becomes Third Country to Adopt mHero in Ebola Recovery Anonymous (not verified) September 13, 2016 November 20, 2015

As part of Sierra Leone’s Ebola recovery and prevention efforts, IntraHealth is working with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, UNICEF, and other partners to implement mHero, an integrated digital health platform for health worker communication and coordination. Sierra Leone will become the third country to use mHero; Liberia and Guinea have already adopted it, and Liberia’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare even included the platform as an official strategy in its new Investment Plan for Building a Resilient Health System.

mHero is an SMS-based mHealth platform that extends and enhances existing national health information systems to get critical information to health workers throughout a country in real time via their mobile phones. IntraHealth will work with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to roll out the mobile phone-based system, thanks to funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). IntraHealth was among the winners of USAID’s Ebola Grand Challenge Award for its work on mHero.

The World Health Organization declared Sierra Leone to be Ebola-free on November 7, 2015. Since the outbreak began in West Africa in March, 2014, the virus has killed 3,955 people in Sierra Leone, including 221 health workers.

In July, Sierra Leone’s president launched a two-year National Ebola Recovery Strategy to help the country regain its footing after the outbreak. mHero will aid in this effort, though the platform does more than aid in recovery—it also strengthens health systems for the long run.

“mHero and other mHealth tools let officials send and receive information, make more informed decisions, and update health workers’ training and skills from thousands of miles away,” says Pape Gaye, president and CEO of IntraHealth. “This is helping as countries recover from Ebola, but it can also help with any priority health issue a health sector is facing.”

IntraHealth will work with officials in Sierra Leone to:

Introduce mHero to establish a robust communications mechanism between frontline health workers and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, allowing health workers to stay informed and the ministry to make more informed decisions.
Collaborate with the World Health Organization to help the ministry expand the national health worker database (the IntraHealth-developed iHRIS), which is a foundational component of mHero.
Build informatics capacity within the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, including building the interoperability of different health information systems, such as iHRIS, mHero, and DHIS 2.

IntraHealth’s work in Sierra Leone is funded by USAID.

Also read: As Spirits Rise in Sierra Leone, Technology Offers More than Ebola Recovery

Sierra Leone

Continued Focus Needed on Heroic Frontline Health Workers as Ebola Recovery Begins in West Africa

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 12:26:11 +0000

Continued Focus Needed on Heroic Frontline Health Workers as Ebola Recovery Begins in West Africa Anonymous (not verified) September 13, 2016 January 14, 2016

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has ended, according to the World Health Organization. Today IntraHealth International joins the Frontline Health Workers Coalition and others in celebrating this hard-won success. While the risk of flare-ups endures, and Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone have much work to do to recover from the epidemic, the region can now begin to rebuild its health systems and health workforce, which lost over 500 members to the outbreak.

From the Frontline Health Workers Coalition:

Statement: Continued focus needed on heroic frontline health workers as Ebola recovery begins in West Africa

Frontline Health Workers Coalition (FHWC) Director Vince Blaser issued the following reaction to the World Health Organization’s declaration today that all known chains of Ebola transmission have been stopped in West Africa:

“WHO’s announcement is excellent news for all who have been involved in the fight to end this epidemic, especially for the communities in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone who have faced immeasurable hardships and heartbreak from this virus.

Frontline health workers have rightly been widely recognized for their heroic actions and central role in getting all three countries to zero, especially the 513 health workers who have given their lives to save others in their communities and around the world. They have been supported by a massive local and international response, including a major, cross-agency response from the U.S. government.

As the affected countries transition to recovery, country-led plans to build resilient and sustainable frontline health workforces connected to stronger health systems must continue to be supported.

Globally, far greater attention needs to be paid to address the fact that at least 400 million people worldwide lack access to the essential health services frontline health workers provide.

As we at the Frontline Health Workers Coalition wrote in our November 2014 policy recommendations at the height of the epidemic, ‘Access to competent and supported health workers can no longer be allowed to languish as a global health policy afterthought. The heroic sacrifices of frontline health workers must be met with honor, compassion and support for their efforts.’

The FHWC will continue to push for continued strong U.S. leadership to build a global frontline health workforce to end preventable maternal and child deaths, achieve an AIDS-free generation, and ensure we never again have a public health crises of this magnitude.”

For more on the Frontline Health Workers Coalition’s Ebola-related advocacy efforts, visit frontlinehealthworkers.org/ebola.

Sierra Leone