The Coalition to End Ebola

The coalition has been hard at work to end the Ebola outbreak for good in Monrovia!

Cases are getting closer to zero each week, with the remaining cases now concentrated in two counties, including Montserrado country, where we work. MTM and the coalition are at the forefront of ensuring that urban communities in Monrovia have the resources and knowledge necessary to stay safe and vigilant to ensure that there are no new cases and the outbreak ends completely.

Recent updates:

• In January, MTM entered an MOU with 6 local clinics and hired nurses to oversee care of residents in these 6 communities. These clinics provide free health services, through MTM’s support, to residents, ensuring they continue to seek medical care and that any potential cases have access to treatment. Given many families have had their livelihoods affected by the epidemic, it also ensures that they can access basic healthcare as the community recovers. In January alone, 212 patients were treated at these facilities.
• Active case finders are operating in 6 communities and referring any ill residents to MTM’s nurse liaisons for care in clinics and screening for Ebola symptoms.
• MTM is providing counseling and resources to 171 survivors, including Ebola orphans and children who survived the disease. Survivors receive basic necessities and food, as well as reentry counseling and support to overcome stigma and help them recover livelihoods.
• The MTM ambulance has continued operating and has very fortunately had just 5 cases to transport in January. It will continue serving Monrovia until the epidemic is definitively over, at which point MTM will look at how it can be turned over to the community.

As the epidemic ends, MTM is focused on supporting these communities to ensure that Ebola is gone for good and also that they have the support and resources necessary to recover. There are 200 Ebola orphans estimated to be in West Point alone (a community of over 100,000) and many families have lost businesses and so have reduced abilities to pay for food, education, or medical care. MTM will continue to provide emergency services to stop transmission and infection, but will also ensure that support for these vulnerable community members does not end abruptly when the epidemic does.