>head of the UN Mission for
Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), Anthony Banbury, visits a site for
safe and dignified burials for Ebola victims in the Sierra Leonean city
of Kenema. Photo: UNMEER
7 November 2014 – The United Nations health agency today announced a
new burial protocol for Ebola victims aimed at reducing the risk of
exposure to the disease for family members as they bury their loved ones
in accordance with religious rites amid Organization-wide efforts to
control the deadly outbreak by a 1 December deadline.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO),
20 per cent of new Ebola infections occur during burials of diseased
Ebola patients when family and community members perform religious rites
that require directly touching or washing the highly infectious body.
“By building trust and respect between burial teams, bereaved families
and religious groups, we are building trust and safety in the response
itself,” Dr. Pierre Formenty, one of WHO’s leading Ebola experts, said
in a press release.
The new protocol
was developed by an interdisciplinary WHO team in tandem with
faith-based organizations and encourages the inclusion of family and
local clergy in the planning and preparation of the burial, as well as
the burial itself. It falls in line with a UN-wide directive aimed at
managing and treating 70 per cent of Ebola cases and making safe 70 per
cent of burials by 1 December.
In addition, the protocol provides sensitivity guidelines for when Ebola
burial teams first meet victims’ families, including abstaining from
wearing personal protective equipment and asking the family if there are
specific requests for managing the burial and personal effects of the
deceased.
“Introducing components such as inviting the family to be involved in
digging the grave and offering options for dry ablution and shrouding
will make a significant difference in curbing Ebola transmission,” Dr.
Formenty continued.
Meanwhile, in a press briefing from Geneva, the UN children’s agency (UNICEF),
stated that its “massive” Ebola operation in the most-affected
countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea, would see a doubling of
supplies for frontline health workers, including a newly developed
coverall impermeable to the Ebola virus.
Based on the agency’s planned scale-up, UNICEF would need at least 1
million of the new coveralls by 1 December, in addition to supplies of
other protective gear, chlorine and essential medicines.
Moreover, the agency said, the number of UNICEF staff on the ground
would double from 300 to 600, with a particular focus on being with the
communities to support social mobilization and to help service delivery.
“This is the most complex emergency to which we have ever had to
respond, and it has required agility in the provision of products,
supply chains and service delivery,” said Shanelle Hall, Director of
UNICEF’s global supply and logistics operations.
“Supply chains have had to be flexible, and meet extremely high standards of quality,” she continued.
“UNICEF is working with governments, industry and partners to establish
whole new supply chains so that we are able to deliver dozens of new
products to new service delivery locations.”
The UN’s refined efforts aimed at controlling the Ebola outbreak will be
dealt a substantial assist when an experimental vaccine, currently
undergoing laboratory testing, is issued to the affected West African
nations. The vaccine could be dispatched as early as January 2015.
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