ZIMBABWE CHOLERA - USAID/DART HEALTH COORDINATION UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000046 SIPDIS AIDAC AFR/SA FOR ELOKEN, LDOBBINS, BHIRSCH, JHARMON OFDA/W FOR KLUU, ACONVERY, LPOWERS, TDENYSENKO FFP/W FOR JBORNS, ASINK, LPETERSEN PRETORIA FOR HHALE, PDISKIN, SMCNIVEN GENEVA FOR NKYLOH ROME FOR USUN FODAG FOR RNEWBERG BRUSSELS FOR USAID PBROWN NEW YORK FOR DMERCADO NSC FOR CPRATT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID TBIO EAGR PREL PHUM PGOV ZI SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE CHOLERA - USAID/DART HEALTH COORDINATION UPDATE REF: 08 HARARE 1137 HARARE 00000046 001.2 OF 004 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. The USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (USAID/DART) has been working closely with the team from the UN World HEALTH Organization (WHO) and humanitarian partners to improve coordination, set up the cholera command-and-control center, and implement cholera response activities at the field level. The USAID/DART HEALTH specialist worked with WHO and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) headquarters office staff in early December (REFTEL) to ensure that the inputs and actions for the center were put in place and has been following the progress to date. ¶2. The command-and-control center was meant to be a technical arm that would provide standards and guidelines, technical assistance, and capacity building to the HEALTH and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) clusters to ensure sound implementation of activities by implementing partners. The center provides support in areas including overall coordination and strategic guidance, cholera surveillance and early warning alerts, case management, social mobilization and behavior change, WASH and infection control, logistics and supply management, and media outreach. Each area will be represented by an expert in the center who will work with partners on specific technical issues. The center's structure will be decentralized to at least the provincial level. ¶3. There have been significant improvements since the beginning of December in coordination, surveillance, case management, social mobilization, and logistics. However, there are still challenges regarding a lack of human resources, logistics coordination, and community-level interventions. The case fatality rate (CFR) for cholera is still high and the impact of the command-and-control center needs to be closely monitored. The arrival of a six-person team from the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research - Bangladesh (ICDDRB),improved partner coordination and rapid response, and the increased prioritization of social mobilization and behavior change at the community level should help to address the high CFR. END SUMMARY. -------------- EPIDEMIOLOGIC UPDATE -------------- ¶4. As of January 14, the cholera outbreak had caused 2,201 deaths, with nearly 42,000 cases reported, and a case fatality rate (CFR) of 5.2 percent, according to the UN World HEALTH Organization (WHO). Approximately 56 percent of the deaths have occurred outside of health facilities, likely indicating a continued lack of access to treatment or lack of prevention and mitigation measures in at least some affected areas. ¶5. According to the most recent WHO epidemiological bulletin, covering the period from January 4 to January 10, the cholera outbreak remained uncontrolled. The CFR increased to 5.9 percent for the week, similar to the weekly CFR from two weeks before, after falling dramatically during the previous week due to lack of reporting over the holiday period. WHO reported an average of 39 deaths and 656 new cases per day over the week covered. During the week of January 4 to 10, Mashonaland West Province reported approximately ONE third of the new cholera cases for the country. -------------- COORDINATION -------------- ¶6. A trained HEALTH cluster coordinator has been deployed to coordinate the HEALTH implementing partners and the WASH cluster to ensure a link between the cholera command-and-control center, implementing partners, and the Ministry of HEALTH and Child Welfare (MOHCW). The center is jointly led by an international strategic HARARE 00000046 002.2 OF 004 technical coordinator recruited by WHO, responsible for daily operations and technical support, and a WHO national staff member responsible for overall management of the center and resolving policy issues with the MOHCW. The center is now located in WHO offices in Parirenyatwa national hospital, having moved from the main WHO offices on the outskirts of town. The hospital is much closer to humanitarian organizations and government agencies. A WHO senior staff member from Geneva will be arriving this week to monitor progress of the cholera command-and-control center. ¶7. The HEALTH and WASH clusters are now holding a weekly joint meeting on the cholera response in the same building as the center, as well as separate technical working group meetings. The January 14 joint meeting was well attended, including representatives from the MOHCW and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority. HEALTH and WASH coordination has improved with the deployment of an experienced health cluster coordinator. ¶8. The HEALTH and WASH clusters are helping to ensure field-level coordination of partners with provincial and district MOHCW staff. At the January 14 cholera response meeting, the cluster coordinators circulated a draft matrix of organizations that have volunteered to serve as district-level cholera response focal points. The majority of the organizations have WASH-focused programming, but the coordinators requested that these staff also cover HEALTH issues due to the small number of health-focused organizations. -------------- DISEASE SURVEILLANCE -------------- ¶9. The center was first staffed by WHO epidemiologists funded by USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), followed by epidemiologists recruited through the WHO Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). The epidemiologists have significantly improved the data collection and alert system. The daily cholera updates now include information on daily case numbers and trends, newly affected areas, lags in reporting, and a cumulative chart of epidemiologic data. The reports also include actions that have been taken and high priority areas requiring follow up due to high CFRs, community deaths reported, new cases reported, or a lack of recent reporting. Working with the WHO data managers, the center produces a weekly epidemiological report with summary data and trend analysis. Replacements for the current staff have already been identified through GOARN to ensure continuity in the center. ¶10. In order to improve information gathering from the district level as well as from hard-to-reach areas, WHO has set up three toll free reporting numbers. WHO has sent a technical team to the areas not covered by cell phone networks to set up a radio system. The cholera command-and-control center has produced a joint assessment tool for data collection, combining the HEALTH and WASH cluster data entry forms. The tool can also be used as a basis for standardized monitoring. ¶11. Many of the cases and deaths continue to occur outside of HEALTH facilities, requiring additional work to improve community-level reporting and active case finding. Cholera treatment center (CTC) staff often do not follow case definition guidelines, and patients may seek care for other illnesses at the CTC, often the only HEALTH services available. In such cases, some of the reported cases and deaths may not be from cholera, but from other diseases including HIV/AIDS. -------------- CASE MANAGEMENT -------------- ¶12. Difficulties with standardized case management at the CTCs remain. Overuse of intravenous fluids and haphazard use of oral rehydration salts (ORS) can lead to supply shortages. As much of the focus has been on CTCs, the community level has not received HARARE 00000046 003.2 OF 004 enough attention, leading to an under-use of ORS and a lack of active case finding and referral of severe cases. A six-member ICDDRB team is now working in the cholera command-and-control center. The USAID/DART will monitor the team's impact following deployment to the provincial level. The ICDDRB team leader will remain in the center to liaise with the implementing partners for strategic guidance. ¶13. In a presentation at the January 14 cholera response meeting, the ICDDRB team noted increased staffing levels, staff training, and staff motivation as the key components in an effective cholera response. The ICDDRB team also handed out CDs with cholera prevention training modules to all organizations participating in the meeting. The CDs were shipped to Harare by USAID/OFDA. Human resources remains a major issue, and a retention scheme for HEALTH workers funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) has recently started in Harare and will start in other provinces in the near future. The European Commission is also providing support for HEALTH staff retention. -------------- WASH -------------- ¶14. The WASH cluster will assign two staff members to the cholera command-and-control center to provide technical advice and response actions to outbreak alerts and to link the HEALTH and WASH activities more closely. WHO WASH staff will monitor WASH and infection control activities at the CTCs. The WASH cluster is examining WASH requirements at schools to prepare a response for potential outbreaks once the term resumes, currently delayed until January 27. The WASH cluster will provide the education cluster with WASH guidelines. The USAID/OFDA WASH Specialist will conduct a follow-up assessment in the coming weeks to provide additional details. -------------- SOCIAL MOBILIZATION AND BEHAVIOR CHANGE -------------- ¶15. Social mobilization activities are ONE of the most important components of epidemic response. The HEALTH and WASH clusters will coordinate efforts in hygiene promotion, HEALTH education, active case finding and reporting, home-based care and feeding practices, health care seeking behavior and the provision of supplies including ORS, aquatabs, water containers, soap, and information, education, and communication materials. ¶16. The cholera command-and-control center social mobilization technical advisor has been working with partners to consolidate IEC materials, develop a strategy and assemble a package for community health workers and hygiene promoters, as well as map the availability of various community-based volunteers and HEALTH workers. ¶17. The technical advisor is also working to provide guidance for hygiene promotion and infection control for large gatherings such as funerals. A MOHCW representative noted that the ministry plans to train community volunteers to monitor large gatherings in the absence of environmental HEALTH technicians. Approximately half of the environmental HEALTH technician positions countrywide are currently vacant. ¶18. Before the arrival of the technical advisor, social mobilization activities focused primarily on mass media campaigns without a robust effort to develop a community-level component. However, many questions concerning what behaviors are leading to increased transmission of cholera and a high CFR need to be further examined. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has mobilized resources that could improve the implementation of behavior change activities at the community level, including seven international emergency teams focusing on health, WASH, and social mobilization. As a significant donor in the cholera response, HARARE 00000046 004.2 OF 004 USAID/OFDA's main focus has been on community mobilization and behavior change, so progress by the cholera command-and-control center is welcome. USAID/OFDA partners are focused on social mobilization but need additional technical guidance. -------------- LOGISTICS -------------- ¶19. A WHO logistician to be based in the command-and-control center has arrived in Zimbabwe and will be working with partners and the National Pharmaceutical Company of Zimbabwe to ensure availability and access to supplies. The logistician will monitor issues such as stock management, distribution, transport management, communications, and gaps in supply chain of medical supplies. WHO recently signed an MOU with the UN World Food Program, the lead for the logistics cluster, to ensure transportation of cholera prevention supplies to the district level. Logistics coordination continues to be an issue, which was exacerbated by a gap in the staffing of the logistics coordination position. -------------- CONCLUSION -------------- ¶20. Although the cholera command-and-control center is functioning, there are still constraints in logistics coordination, human resources, and community-level interventions. Donors such as DFID and European Community Humanitarian Aid Office, along with USAID/OFDA, should continue to coordinate efforts to ensure close cooperation between the HEALTH and WASH clusters and monitor continued operations of the center. This includes helping the health and WASH clusters to better coordinate efforts, advocating for strong and clear leadership of the command-and-control center, and working to ensure that the ICDDRB team is allowed to effectively work at the provincial level. Donors should also help to ensure that the social mobilization and behavior change response is technically sound and that there is an adequate gap analysis and provision of resources. If required by partners, support may be necessary for further assessments or studies of data quality regarding reported cholera cases and deaths in HEALTH facilities and communities, as well as further investigation into key behaviors to prevent cholera transmission and reduce mortality. MCGEE