Strengthening health systems while responding to a health crisis: Lessons learned by a nongovernmental organization during the Ebola virus disease epidemic in Sierra Leone

Author(s)
Cancedda, C., Davis, S.M., Dierberg, K.L., Lascher, J., Kelly, J. D., Barrie, M.B., Koroma, A. P., George, P., Kamara, A. A., Marsh, R., Sumbuya, M. S., Nutt, C. T., Scott, K. W., Thomas, E., Bollbach, K., Sesay, A., Barrie, A., Barrera, E., Barron, K., Welch, J., Bhadelia, N., Frankfurter, R. G., Dahl, O. M., Das, S., Rollins, R. E., Eustis, B., Schwartz, A., Pertile, P., Pavlopoulos, I., Mayfield, A., Marsh, R. H., Dibba, Y., Kloepper, D., Hall, A., Huster, K., Grady, M., Spray, K., Walton, D. A., Daboh, F., Nally, C., James, S., Warren, G. S., Chang, J., Drasher, M., Lamin, G., Bangura, S., Miller, A. C., Michaelis, A. P., McBain, R., Broadhurst, M. J., Murray, M., Richardson, E. T., Philip, T., Gottlieb, G. L., Mukherjee, J. S. and Farmer, P.E.
Pages
10pp
Date published
28 Sep 2016
Publisher
The Journal of Infectious Diseases
Type
Articles
Keywords
Epidemics & pandemics, Health, Response and recovery
Link
https://www.academia.edu/28895907/Strengthening_Health_Systems_While_Responding_…

An epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) beginning in 2013 has claimed an estimated 11 310 lives in West Africa. As the EVDepidemic subsides, it is important for all who participated in the emergency Ebola response to reflect on strengths and weaknesses of the response. Such reflections should take into account perspectives not usually included in peer-reviewed publications and after-action reports, including those from the public sector, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), survivors of Ebola, and Ebola-affected households and communities. In this article, we first describe how the international NGO Partners In Health (PIH)partnered with the Government of Sierra Leone and Wellbody Alliance (a local NGO) to respond to the EVD epidemic in 4 of the country’s most Ebola-affected districts. We then describe how, in the aftermath of the epidemic, PIH is partnering with the public sector to strengthen the health system and resume delivery of regular health services.