Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUnifeed
WHO / DRC EBOLA
STORY: WHO / DRC EBOLA
TRT: 3:21
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/FRENCH/NATS
DATELINE: 6 AND 9 JUNE 2018, ITIPO, ÉQUATEUR PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
9 JUNE 2018, ITIPO, ÉQUATEUR PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
1. Aerial shot, Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, WHO Epidemiology Team Lead in Itipo area looking through her notes placed on a motorcycle in the middle of the forest
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We go every day to health centers and health posts, and we talk to the nurses in charge of those to see if they have new suspected cases that we have to investigate. So the team investigates those suspected cases, and we can validate or invalidate them, so we have to do it everyday because there is no phone, there is no network installed yet in Itipo.”
4. Various shots, Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire getting on a motorcycle and driving away
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“There are no roads so what we are using are motorcycles. We are using motorcycles because this is the best way we can go into the forest to go to those villages.”
6. Various shots, Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire on a motorcycle
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“So, we have to stop here and go further because with the motorcycle it is very difficult to go. We should go walking.”
8. Wide shot, Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire and the driver walking.
9. Various shots, Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire taking temperature of a contact case and instructing him to go to a hospital if needed
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“One another thing that we are doing is monitoring every contact of the case during the 21 days after the last contact with the case. So this is very important activity, in the epidemic of Ebola. Because this way we can cut the chain of transmission. As you know, the transmission is person to person, so if we can monitor every single contact of cases. And we find when they begin with symptoms, and we can isolate them from the community.”
6 JUNE 2018, Itipo, Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
11. Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire coordinating the teams
9 JUNE 2018, Itipo, Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We have set up a center here in the base of the coordination. We receive alerts from all the people from the community. There is no limitation on who can come here to tell us about suspected cases in the community. Once we receive them, we fill in the forms, and rapid response teams go to the field to investigate the suspected cases.”
9 JUNE 2018, Itipo, Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“I know I will see somebody there that I will save him. That I will keep him safe from Ebola, so I have to go whatever the difficulty, I’m facing on the road.”
14. Wide shot, Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire driving away
A team of health experts from World Health Organization (WHO) is working in Itipo, a rural area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to identify and follow up with people who may have come into contact with a person infected with the Ebola virus.
Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire is the leader of WHO’s Epidemiology Team in Itipo. Her team traces the Ebola virus in areas throughout the northwest of the DRC.
SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We go every day to health centers and health posts, and we talk to the nurses in charge of those to see if they have new suspected cases that we have to investigate. So the team investigates those suspected cases, and we can validate or invalidate them, so we have to do it everyday because there is no phone, there is no network installed yet in Itipo.”
The communities at risk are spread out over a wide area in Itipo. Bélizaire's team of more than 20 field epidemiologists use mostly motorcycles to get around.
SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“There are no roads so what we are using are motorcycles. We are using motorcycles because this is the best way we can go into the forest to go to those villages.”
Sometimes even motorcycles are too big for the forest dirt-paths, the health experts need to leave the bike behind and continue on foot.
SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
"So, we have to stop here and go further because with the motorcycle it is very difficult to go. We should go walking.”
All close contacts should be monitored for 21 days following their last known exposure to the case, and be isolated and cared for if they become ill.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, 1706 contacts were identified. Bélizaire’s team visit them regularly to check on their health, take their temperature, and answer any questions they may have. The last contacts finished their period of follow-up on 27 June.
SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“One another thing that we are doing is monitoring every contact of the case during the 21 days after the last contact with the case. So this is very important activity, in the epidemic of Ebola. Because this way we can cut the chain of transmission. As you know, the transmission is person to person, so if we can monitor every single contact of cases. And we find when they begin with symptoms, and we can isolate them from the community.”
The team has set up a coordination base and keeps its door open to anyone who wants to alert about a new suspected case.
SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We have set up a center here in the base of the coordination. We receive alerts from all the people from the community. There is no limitation on who can come here to tell us about suspected cases in the community. Once we receive them, we fill in the forms, and rapid response teams go to the field to investigate the suspected cases.”
Though ending the follow-up of contacts is an important step towards reaching the end of the outbreak, it is not yet the end.
SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Roseline Darnycka Bélizaire, Epidemiology Team Lead, World Health Organization (WHO):
“I know I will see somebody there that I will save him. That I will keep him safe from Ebola, so I have to go whatever the difficulty, I’m facing on the road.”
WHO is in active response mode, including active case search at community and health facility levels, real-time investigation of suspected alerts and active follow-up of over 20 alerts per day, collection of specimens for laboratory confirmation and/or exclusion. There has not been a confirmed case since 6 June.
Download
There is no media available to download.
