2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Online Program

331669
Establishing Systems and Protocols: A Model for Protecting Maternal and Child Health Facilities from Ebola Virus Disease and other Infectious Agents


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 8:56 a.m. - 9:09 a.m.

Muriel J. Harris, PhD, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences, Louisville, KY
Mary Okumu, PhD, UN Women, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Background and Purpose: The Ebola Virus(EV) Epidemic in West Africa has affected almost the entire land mass of three countries involving both rural and urban areas as well as capital cities of Freetown and Monrovia. The outbreak started in Guinea in December 2013 and over the next five months spread silently across Liberia and Sierra Leone with a total of 13,969 laboratory confirmed cases and 9,194 deaths by Feb, 12, 2015. Sierra Leone and Liberia are the hardest hit. The EV (Zaire) belongs to the Filoviruses family called Filoviridae that causes severe hemorrhagic fever in humans. It is transmitted from person to person by direct contact of skin or mucous membranes with infected blood or other body fluids. Patients with EV disease (EVD) progress quickly to multi-organ failure and death (50-60%). There are potentially five EVD Risk categories among pregnant and lactating women and children that seek care at a MCH facility.  Given the stigma associated with EVD and the unlikely self-report of close contact with somebody with EVD or participating in burial ceremonies, it is necessary that appropriate infection control precautions are taken.

Result and Recommendations: A Triage Model for Infection Control is proposed to prevent the transmission of EVD and other infectious diseases in Maternal and Child Health Facilities. MCH and other health care facilities must ensure a system whereby staff and patients are protected from EV and other highly infectious diseases through the development and enforcement of well-designed and implemented systems and policies.

Learning Areas:

Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control

Learning Objectives:
Explain the causes and transmission patterns of the Ebola Virus across West Africa Describe a model for preventing the spread of the virus in Maternal and Child Health Facilities Discuss the importance of a Triage Method for Prevention

Keyword(s): Emergency Preparedness, International MCH

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified as a public health researcher and professor of public health. In addition I developed the model being presented.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4048.0: Maternal Newborn and Child Health II