Dear Colleagues:

Links to each of the resources listed below can be found on Sanitation Updates :

News Articles/Blog Posts

Ebola in the DRC: everything you need to know. The Guardian, June 25, 2019. Key facts about the second largest outbreak of the disease in history.

“Ebola will be eradicated…it doesn’t mean it won’t come back.” BBC Podcast, June 28. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebryesus – Chief Executive of the World Health Organisation – has recently got back from a fact-finding visit to the DRC and neighboring Uganda.

Uganda: Ebola Now Under Control, Says Govt. AllAfrica, June 28, 2019. Government has said they are on top of the game in preventing the further spread of the Ebola Viral Disease (EVD), which has ravaged neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for a year now.

USAID chief: Key to containing Ebola is transparency. Devex, June 19. Research from John Hopkins University found that a lack of understanding of the disease and a lack of trust in institutions to put in place a control strategy could be a reason the virus has spread more rapidly in recent months than it did at the beginning of the outbreak.

STUDIES/REPORTS

Ebola virus disease – Democratic Republic of the Congo, Disease outbreak news: Update, 27 June 2019. WHO. In the 21 days, between 5 to 25 June 2019, 67 health areas within 19 health zones reported new cases, representing 10% of the 664 health areas within North Kivu and Ituri provinces (Figure 2). During this period, a total of 252 confirmed cases were reported.

Effectiveness of Dettol Antiseptic Liquid for Inactivation of Ebola Virus in Suspension. Nature, Scientific Reports, April 2019. The rapid and substantial inactivation of EBOV/Mak by DAL suggests that use of this hygiene product could help prevent the spread of Ebola virus disease during outbreaks.

Responding to the Ebola virus disease outbreak in DR Congo: when will we learn from Sierra Leone? Lancet, May 29. Recognizing differences between settings, we feel, nevertheless, that it is urgent that the lessons from Sierra Leone help to rethink the response to the significantly worsening outbreak in North-Eastern DRC.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Ebola Virus Disease – External Situation Report 47, June 25, 2019. WHO. The outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, Democratic Republic of the Congo continues this past week, with a steady and sustained transmission intensity.

Lessons learnt from doing research amid a humanitarian crisis. Nature, June 26. Funk and his colleagues at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases (CMMID) used data on Ebola diagnoses and infection rates to build statistical predictions of how the disease was likely to proceed.

Impact of the West African Ebola Epidemic on Agricultural Production and Rural Welfare: Evidence from Liberia. World Bank, June 11. The paper finds that higher Ebola prevalence (as proxied by local mortality) led to greater disruption of group labor mobilization for planting and harvest, thereby reducing rice area planted as well as rice yields.

Ebola, community engagement, and saving loved ones. Lancet, June 10. Perhaps the most useful insight for Ebola policy from what happened on the ground in Sierra Leone is that treatment will occur within groups that feel responsible for one another, irrespective of dictates to the contrary from their coopted leaders, and there will be forms of accountability beyond family units that facilitate such arrangements.

Ebola virus disease factsheet. WHO, May 2019. The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks. Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks.

The Impact of Various Promotional Activities on Ebola Prevention Behaviors and Psychosocial Factors Predicting Ebola Prevention Behaviors in the Gambia Evaluation of Ebola Prevention Promotions. Int Jnl of Env Res and Public Health, June 6. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of EVD prevention promotions in the Gambia and to assess the psychosocial factors that steer three behaviors: handwashing with soap, calling the Ebola Hotline, and not touching a person who might be suffering from EVD.