Outbreak Response
We build the capacity of our local staff, volunteers, and partners to prevent and respond quickly to disease outbreaks.
Project Information
Project Status: Active
Start Date:
End Date: Ongoing
Countries: Sierra Leone, Mozambique
WHI is preparing to respond to COVID-19
Preventing and responding to disease outbreaks
Because we can expect diseases to break out even if we can’t anticipate what they will be, we can prepare to respond in the moment of crisis.
Devastating diseases can break out across the world any time, as evidenced by the 2014 Ebola crisis, and they can rapidly spread across the globe and slip unobserved across barriers and borders. Diseases like cholera can also rapidly run rampant following disasters and create a second disaster in their wake.
It is important to be prepared to respond to this, whether that looks like training healthcare workers, increasing the capacity of local health systems, setting up isolation units to help with burials, delivering food, providing shunned survivor care, or more.
Project Goals
- Work to prevent outbreaks in vulnerable areas
- Educate locals and volunteers on best practices for an outbreak response
- Contain infectious diseases
- Prevent additional outbreaks
- Mitigate cultural stigma around those affected
Expected Outcomes
- Contain infectious diseases
- Additional outbreaks prevented
- Minimal stigma for survivors
Ebola may be behind us, but the future of Sierra Leone is dependent on the development of a strong public health system that can contain destructive viruses and provide quality of health for its people.
