Period covered by this update: 30 August to 31 October, 2012.
Summary: CHF 262,914 was allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) on 29 August, 2012 to support the Red Cross of DRC National Society in delivering assistance to some 830,000 beneficiaries.
Since early August, the Red Cross of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC RC) National Society has been responding to the Ebola epidemic that is raging in the Orientale province, with Isiro as epicentre. On 29 August 2012, a DREF was approved to support the work of volunteers. To date, the DRC RC has trained 10 senior staff and 150 supervisors and volunteers on psychosocial support, management of epidemics, water and sanitation (WATSAN) and communication techniques. These volunteers have been conducting safe burials, disinfecting patients and carrying out social mobilization. Since early October, the DRC RC has been carrying out intensive awareness-raising activities, with special emphasis on psychosocial support and prevention.
Although the epidemic seems to be under control, the DRC RC believes that there is a need to extend the operation’s timeframe for two months, from November 2012 to January 2013. This will give the National Society (NS) enough time to consolidate achievements in the areas of awareness, support to patients' families or people in isolation, distribution of kits and water, hygiene and sanitation activities. This DREF operation update therefore extends the timeframe of the operation from 3 months to 5 months, to be completed by January 2013, with the Final Report made available three months after the end of the operation (by May 2013).
Donors who have replenished this DREF operation include Belgian RC/Government and ECHO.