Over the past couple of months, Guinea has been confronted with the serious Ebola epidemic which, due to the surprising apparition of the disease and the unpreparedness of health authorities, has taken the lives of an unprecedented number of families and health workers. Despite preventative measures taken by Guinean authorities with the support of development partners, Ebola persists in the country.
As an education NGO which implements a human rights-based program—promoting among other things the right to health—we recognize it is our duty to be involved in awareness raising activities in our partner communities, with funding from UNICEF. These activities will be held at the same time as other ongoing projects in 116 districts and villages across Guinea.
Using our approach of organized diffusion, 17 Tostan supervisors will hold educational discussions in local languages to raise awareness on the Ebola virus. 2,784 community members from 116 Community Management Committees (CMCs) and the Local Council for Children and Families (CLEF – in French) will educate their relatives, friends, and at least three districts and neighboring villages. This system of information sharing enables information on prevention methods to reach an extended number of people to stop the propagation of the virus. During these sessions of awareness-raising on the Ebola virus, Tostan supervisors in Guinea will use an image box (in French) created by UNICEF, a method widely promoted by the President of the Republic of Guinea, who himself is calling on partners to work together to put an end to this epidemic.
Other preventative measures include the distribution and installation of hand-washing kits in each Tostan office in Conakry, Labe, and Faranah by the National Coordination of Tostan Guinea. The Governor and Prefect of Faranah, who visited the regional Tostan office, congratulated Tostan for putting in safety measures to help prevent the spread of Ebola amongst the staff and the 116 partner communities, as well as acknowledgingthe hundreds of other adopted communities reached through organized diffusion. The two administrative authorities in Faranah confirmed that these measures support government and partner efforts in the prevention of Ebola.
Note to editors
Tostan is a nongovernmental organization headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. Tostan works mainly in remote rural areas, providing a three-year non-formal education program with impacts in the areas of governance, education, health, the environment, and economic growth. Tostan is currently implementing its program in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia. For more information, please visit www.tostan.org .
Press Contact:
Mouctar Oulare, National Coordinator of Tostan in Guinea
E-mail: m-oulare@tostan.org
Phone #: +224 657 24 10 27
