Journal article

Use of a nationwide call center for ebola response and monitoring during a 3-day house-to-house campaign — Sierra Leone

During May 23, 2014–January 10, 2015, Sierra Leone reported 7,777 confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (Ebola) (1). In response to the epidemic, on August 5, Sierra Leone\'s Emergency Operations Center established a toll-free, nationwide Ebola call center. The purpose of the call center is to encourage public reporting of possible Ebola cases and deaths to public health officials and to provide health education about Ebola to callers. This information also functions as an \"alert\" system for public health officials and supports surveillance efforts for the response. National call center dispatchers call district-level response teams composed of surveillance officers and burial teams to inform them of reported deaths and possible Ebola cases. Members of these response teams investigate cases and conduct follow-up actions such as transporting ill persons to Ebola treatment units or providing safe, dignified medical burials as resources permit. The call center continues to operate. This report describes calls received during a 3-day national campaign and reports the results of an assessment of the call center operation during the campaign.

The call center recorded all answered calls in a database. When the number of incoming calls exceeded the number of available lines, calls were not answered because there was no queue in which calls could be held for an available operator. Hence, unanswered calls were not recorded. The call center was staffed by 60 persons during two 12-hour shifts each day.

During September 19–21, the Sierra Leone government conducted a 3-day national campaign called \"Ose-to-Ose Ebola Tok\" (House-to-house Ebola talk), intended to provide education and galvanize support for the Ebola response. During the 3-day campaign, persons were required to stay in their homes, where they were visited by volunteer teams that provided Ebola education and sought to identify cases. More than 28,000 volunteers with knowledge of local resources and Ebola prevention information visited an estimated 75% of households nationwide during the 3-day campaign. Also, mass media and volunteers promoted using the call center to report possible cases of Ebola or to obtain more information.

Languages

  • English

Publication year

2015

Journal

MMWR

Volume

1

Type

Journal article

Categories

  • Service delivery

Diseases

  • Ebola

Countries

  • Sierra Leone

Tags

  • Communications
  • Mobile phone

WHO Regions

  • African Region

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Added on: 2016-06-16 14:08:02

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