Ivory Coast launches public awareness drive to combat Ebola outbreak

KIGALI, Rwanda

Ivory Coast announced on Monday that it launched a mass awareness campaign in response to an Ebola outbreak last week in the West African country.

The government and the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the outbreak in the country's largest city Abidjan, involving an 18-year-old woman hospitalized due to the virus after arriving from neighboring Guinea.

“Some 50,000 posters and giant billboards with awareness messages are set to be produced as part of the prevention and response measures,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Health Minister Pierre Dimba said several emergency measures have been adopted, including the reactivation of community surveillance of potential contacts, awareness-raising, diagnosis, and management of infected cases, and the immediate vaccination of target groups.

Dimba said this is an isolated, and imported Ebola case, the country’s first since 1994.

The ministry urged the public to strictly observe the health measures put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, saying they are still effective even in preventing the Ebola virus's spread

Last Sunday, 5,000 Ebola vaccines arrived in Ivory Coast from Guinea, with vaccination set to be rolled out on Tuesday, according to the ministry.

The target groups for vaccination include health personnel, law enforcement officers at border crossings, as well as the patients' contacts.

Health officials said the patient’s itinerary was identified, where she arrived in Abidjan from Guinea by road aboard a bus with 32 passengers.

The prevention and response plan has been designed in collaboration with global partners such as World Health Organization and UNICEF.

Guinea had previously experienced a four-month Ebola outbreak this year, which left 12 people dead before emerging again in June.

The WHO said it will carry out genomic sequencing to identify the strain of the virus to determine whether there is a connection between the two outbreaks.

Last week, WHO Africa Regional Director Matshidiso Moeti said “much of the world’s expertise in tackling Ebola is here on the continent,” which can help the Ivory Coast bring its response to “full speed.”