Ebola

This Ebola Communication Preparedness Implementation Kit (I-Kit) provides national and local stakeholders, as well as program managers, with key considerations and a roadmap for instituting and implementing critical, relevant, practical and timely communication for responding
to the threat of an Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak. The I-Kit guides countries in social and behavior change communication (SBCC) and risk communication activity planning, including communication plan development for every stage of an Ebola response.

This toolkit is written to help the mobilizer and communicator talk about these concerns and fears in their community. The toolkit includes Exercises and Group Discussions where community members can talk about these fears and how these fears affect survivors, family members, orphans and health workers. The toolkit also has Exercises for what community members can do to reduce discrimination against survivors and support a positive community for them.

The prolonged outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has had consequences for the countries neighbouring the affected provinces of North Kivu and Ituri. Over the past 18 months, UNICEF has supported four countries categorized as priority one (Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda), as well as Tanzania, in enhancing their readiness to respond to the imminent risk of cross-border EVD transmission.

Many lessons have been learnt, challenges tackled, and progress made during the longest-known preparedness effort for a public health emergency globally – some of which could be applied during other outbreaks, including the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This report explores the Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) undertaken for EVD preparedness in the priority countries and the main takeaways from these initiatives, based on a regional review and stocktaking meeting that UNICEF hosted in Nairobi, Kenya on 28–29 January 2020.

On 1 August 2018, the 10th epidemic of Ebola virus disease was declared by the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). With a total of 3,463 cases and more than 2,200 deaths (WHO, 2020a), it is the world’s second largest Ebola epidemic after the West African outbreak. The epidemic is also intertwined with years of conflict, insecurity, chronic and acute humanitarian needs and population displacements.

This complexity has meant the response faced significant access challenges as well as community distrust. About a year into the response, a perception survey carried out in Béni, North Kivu revealed that only 27% of affected communities agreed with decisions made by humanitarian actors; 19% believed their opinion was taken into account; and just 34% knew how to make a complaint or give feedback.

Finding a systematic and predictable model of coordination to collectively engage with communities in a meaningful and coordinated way has been a significant challenge, one which is examined in this report. The paper identifies lessons from the 10th Ebola outbreak that must be seized both for current and future responses in DRC, as well as globally, to support more systematic and collective approaches to risk communication and community engagement.