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Liberia

UNICEF Liberia Ebola Outbreak Weekly Situation Report #81, 15 April 2015

Attachments

HIGHLIGHTS

  • No new confirmed cases reported since 20 March 2015.
  • The Government of Liberia has identified 4,345 (2271 girls and 2074 boys) as affected by the Ebola Virus Disease. The Government has defined the number of children ‘affected’ as quarantined, orphaned, unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), in treatment and discharged. Orphans are children who have lost one or both parents/primary caregivers due to EVD. More specifically, to-date a total number of children registered by the Ministry social workers as having lost one or both parents/primary caregivers due to EVD is 3,091 (847 having lost both parents and 2,244 having lost one parent).
  • Last week, UNICEF’s local implementing partner Helping Hand identified and hired the first 95 survivors in Margibi and Lofa to provide psychosocial support to families affected by EVD. Recruitment is still ongoing and targets 900 survivors in six counties.
  • Back-to-School kits containing infection prevention and control supplies for an additional 581 schools in Montserrado County have been procured, and kitting has begun for distribution to these schools after UNICEF verified they had been left out in the first round of School Safety Protocols supplies requested by the Ministry of Education.
  • UNICEF is supporting the revitalization of birth registration and certification in Liberia, which slowed down or stopped in many health centers during the EVD outbreak. Prior to the outbreak, UNICEF helped increase the birth registration rate from 4 to 25 per cent, but assessments have shown that most of the 73,000 children born during the EVD outbreak have not been registered.
  • The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) was assisted with technical expert guidance in influencing the National Investment Plan for Rebuilding a Resilient Health System in Liberia by ensuring that it includes a strong social protection component and ensures that children receive a holistic support package not only including health, but also social protection.
  • UNICEF continues to support the preparation of the upcoming measles campaign (integrated with oral polio vaccine (OPV)/deworming tablets) that is scheduled to take place from 8 to 14 May 2015 for children under five. Microplanning sessions have now been concluded in all 15 counties and delivery of bulk campaign supplies (including IPC) to the counties has commenced.