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Developing an Incident Management System to Support Ebola Response - Liberia, July-August 2014.
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2014 Oct 17;63(41):930-933
Authors: Pillai SK, Nyenswah T, Rouse E, Arwady MA, Forrester JD, Hunter JC, Matanock A, Ayscue P, Monroe B, Schafer IJ, Poblano L, Neatherlin J, Montgomery JM, De Cock KM
Abstract
The ongoing Ebola virus disease (Ebola) outbreak in West Africa is the largest and most sustained Ebola epidemic recorded, with 6,574 cases. Among the five affected countries of West Africa (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria, and Senegal), Liberia has had the highest number cases (3,458). This epidemic has severely strained the public health and health care infrastructure of Liberia, has resulted in restrictions in civil liberties, and has disrupted international travel. As part of the initial response, the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) developed a national task force and technical expert committee to oversee the management of the Ebola-related activities. During the third week of July 2014, CDC deployed a team of epidemiologists, data management specialists, emergency management specialists, and health communicators to assist MOHSW in its response to the growing Ebola epidemic. One aspect of CDC's response was to work with MOHSW in instituting incident management system (IMS) principles to enhance the organization of the response. This report describes MOHSW's Ebola response structure as of mid-July, the plans made during the initial assessment of the response structure, the implementation of interventions aimed at improving the system, and plans for further development of the response structure for the Ebola epidemic in Liberia.
PMID: 25321071 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]