# 9013
With the Ebola outbreak in Western Africa continuing to accelerate, and the breadth and scope of the outbreak already greater than all previously described outbreaks combined, the World Health Organization has today released a 27 page PDF file outlining a roadmap to contain the outbreak over the next 6 to 9 months.
This roadmap contains a number of assumptions, including:
This Roadmap assumes that in many areas of intense transmission the actual number of cases may be 2-4 fold higher than that currently reported. It acknowledges that the aggregate case load of EVD could exceed 20,000 over the course of this emergency. The Roadmap assumes that a rapid escalation of the complementary strategies in intense transmission, resource-constrained areas will allow the comprehensive application of more standard containment strategies within 3 months. This plan recognizes that a number of currently unaffected countries could be exposed to EVD, but assumes that the emergency application of the standard control strategies will stop any new transmission within 8 weeks of the index case.
Below you’ll find the WHO press release on this Ebola response document.
WHO issues roadmap for scaled-up response to the Ebola outbreak
28 August 2014
The World Health Organization is today issuing a roadmap to guide and coordinate the international response to the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa.
The roadmap aims to stop ongoing Ebola transmission worldwide within 6–9 months, while rapidly managing the consequences of any further international spread. It also recognizes the need to address, in parallel, the outbreak’s broader socioeconomic impact.
It responds to the urgent need to dramatically scale up the international response. Nearly 40% of the total number of reported cases have occurred within the past three weeks.
The roadmap was informed by comments received from a large number of partners, including health officials in the affected countries, the African Union, development banks, other UN agencies, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and countries providing direct financial support.
The roadmap will serve as a framework for updating detailed operational plans. Priority is being given to needs for treatment and management centres, social mobilization, and safe burials. These plans will be based on site-specific data that are being set out in regular situation reports, which will begin this week.
The situation reports map the hotspots and hot zones, present epidemiological data showing how the outbreak is evolving over time, and communicate what is known about the location of treatment facilities and laboratories, together with data needed to support other elements of the roadmap.
The roadmap covers the health dimensions of the international response. These dimensions include key potential bottlenecks requiring international coordination, such as the supply of personal protective equipment, disinfectants, and body bags.
The WHO roadmap will be complemented by the development of a separate UN-wide operational platform that brings in the skills and capacities of other agencies, including assets in the areas of logistics and transportation. The UN-wide platform aims to facilitate the delivery of essential services, such as food and other provisions, water supply and sanitation, and primary health care.
Resource flows to implement the roadmap will be tracked separately, with support from the World Bank.
This is a fast-moving outbreak with a number of unprecedented dimensions. The roadmap being issued today is sufficiently flexible to accommodate rapid changes in the outbreak’s epidemiology and the needs this creates.
