With the Ebola virus affecting communities in Guinea since February, response activities ramped up in Guinea and neighbouring Liberia with Haiti now sharing
expertise in beneficiary communications to help deal with the haemorrhagic fever outbreak.
To support efforts by local Red Cross volunteers, the IFRC is deploying a team of specialists in health, water and sanitation, logistics, psychosocial support and beneficiary communications, including a staff member from the Haitian Red Cross.
Psychosocial support and beneficiary communications are especially important in addressing fear and panic in Guinea and Liberia. Major lessons from the 2010 earthquake response in Haiti is that information is aid, and the need to engage with communities on their terms. Expertise in beneficiary communications was acquired and developed in Haiti following the earthquake and is now being shared with Red Cross societies in West Africa.
In Haiti, evolving needs expressed by the population transformed communications. Among them was the need for the Red Cross to communicate with beneficiaries in the way that was most accessible to them, namely through radio broadcast, mobile SMS and most recently through an Interactive Voice Response system using mobile telephone technology.
The addition of innovative communications tools and methods will boost the capabilities of local Red Cross volunteers to reach the population and communicate important messages on the spread of Ebola.
Canadians can support Red Cross efforts by donating to the West Africa Ebola Fund.