y in the Ebola Response in West Africa | 1
Better coordination is needed in the deployment
of technologies to avoid duplication of efforts and data
fragmentation. Coordinating the tech component of the
response should be integrated in the overall National
Ebola Outbreak Response Plan of the affected countries
and in the preparedness plans of non-affected countries.
Whenever possible, governments and partners should
seek to use and endorse proven platforms
and tools before developing new ones to ensure
interoperability. New tools are unproven and will lead to
further lack of coordination and data fragmentation.
OVERVIEW: THE EBOLA OUTBREAK
The 2014 epidemic of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa is the
largest in history. Of the more than 13,500 cases, 4,900 have resulted
in deaths.1 The overwhelming size and nature of the epidemic has led
to the collapse of already fragile health care systems in Liberia, Guinea,
and Sierra Leone. The Ebola epidemic has been hampered by
misinformation and a lack of information about critical aspects of the
response, including EVD transmission, case notification, infection
control options, geographic spread, and health service availability. In
addition, health workers were neither trained nor equipped for EVD
outbreaks and government-imposed travel restrictions make reaching
them (for training, communication, and equipment) difficult. With up
to $33 billion in economic losses, the severity of the epidemic calls for
the rapid deployment of technology, including ehealth and mhealth, to
accelerate and optimize the response.2