Highlights:
· The total number of confirmed cases of Ebola rose to 2,966 this week, according to WHO’s Epidemiological Situation Report. The total number of confirmed, suspected and probable cases climbed to 3,389. The number of confirmed deaths from Ebola gained to 1,829, with confirmed, suspected and probable deaths rising to 2,224.
· The National Coordination has put in place a one-month Interim Plan, from 14 March to 15 April 2015, to intensify its Ebola response in the prefectures of Forécariah, Coyah, Dubréka, Kindia, Boffa and in the five communes of Conakry. UNICEF will support this plan in the areas of social mobilization, community engagement and hygiene promotion.
· UNICEF and the Ministry of Education are conducting a joint monitoring mission to ensure that teachers, administrators and pupils are observing Ebola hygiene and safety measures in Faranah, Mamou, Kissidougou, Guéckédou and Macenta. The mission found that Ebola prevention measures in schools are, in large part, properly being applied.
· UNICEF and partners distributed 16,694 household WASH kits benefitting 116,858 people in Ebola-affected areas. This brings the total number of household WASH kits distributed to 167,363 and the total number of UNICEF beneficiaries to 1.2 million people.
· UNICEF took the lead in a measles campaign in the three villages hardest hit, in Lola prefecture, N’Zérékoré region. Sixty-nine cases of measles were reported in Kankan and the Ministry of Health, with UNICEF support, has started planning an immunization campaign there.