Community Engagement Strategies for Pandemic Preparedness

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PUBH6006: Community Health and disease prevention
Assessment 3: Emergency response plan- Non-communicable disease prevention
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Ebola Virus......................................................................................................................................4
Emergency response plan................................................................................................................4
Community engagement..............................................................................................................4
Consultation.................................................................................................................................5
Participation.................................................................................................................................5
Organization................................................................................................................................6
Capacity building.........................................................................................................................6
Action..........................................................................................................................................6
Empowerment..............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
Ebola virus refers to the virus which is named as the deadly virus and has taken the lives of many
people worldwide. In this report, the emergency response plan will be prepared to cover the
engagement of community and mobilization strategy for the Ebola Virus outbreak. The step-by-
step approach will be used for formulating the strategy which will help in ensuring the
community engagement as the active role along with the health agencies and authorities in the
plan so that it can respond to this disease spread. For making the decision, the top-down
approach will be used and the report will discuss the engagement, consultation, capacity
building, participation, possible empowerment, and action plan.
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Ebola Virus
It is the virus which is deadly and rare and has affected humans and non -humans primates
including gorillas, monkeys, and chimpanzees. The disease is caused by infection with virus
groups within Ebolavirus. The transmission of the virus of this disease takes place through the
wild animals and it spreads in the population of humans through transmission among human-to-
human. This virus was first discovered in the year 1976 and from 2014 to 2016 there was the
largest outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. The Ebola virus currently outbreaks in 2018-19 in
eastern DRC which is complex and has adversely affected insecurity among the activities of the
public health; this disease causes body aches, fever, and diarrhea. Sometimes there is bleeding
both outside and inside the body. The immune system becomes weak or almost gets damaged
along with the damage to the body organs (Baize, et. al, 2014).
Australian community philanthropy (ACP)
It is the organization that is peak and has a strong network for the foundation of community
which supports the growth of them and connect them for the collective impact. This community
will work for preparing the response plan for the outbreak of the Ebola virus and will work
together with the other health organizations and agencies for spreading the awareness for this
disease.
Emergency response plan
This response plan is prepared by the Australian community philanthropy to take the corrective
actions and prepare the action plans for fighting against the Ebola virus so that the awareness can
be spread for the same and preventions for this disease can be spread so that the lives of the
human and non-human can be saved (WHO, 2014).
Community engagement
The community engagement is the process of relationship building with the stakeholders, interest
groups, tribal members, and citizens for working side-by-side as the partners of the long-term.
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Significantly, the members of the community are engaged in valuing the social activities and
settings and can make their contribution towards those activities and functional capabilities are
developed among them enabling them to participate fully within the response plan and programs.
For keeping the ACP community member engaged questions should be asked to the member of
the community regarding what plans should be made for the effective actions and controlling of
the Ebola disease. They should be invited for sharing their ideas and thoughts so that they
actively engaged themselves in making the decisions. One of the strategies can be allowing
members for the active participation in the decision-making so that they feel that they are treated
as an important part of the community and are being valued. The spotlight should be made on the
community's members. Effective promotion is essential so that the members are well aware with
the purpose for which the plan is going to be made by which they can contribute their efforts
towards the Ebola virus response plan (Crowe, et. al, 2015).
Consultation
The guidelines will be prepared for this emergency plan and various health organizations and
agencies will be consulted for planning regarding this disease. The symptoms of this disease will
be noticed and the precautions that should be taken by the humans will be consulted with the
professional doctors who have good knowledge and experience. The discussion will also be
made about the threat from the spreading of this disease. By the active consultation among the
members of the community, they will be promoted for the self -sufficiency and dignity and will
be more accountable for the Ebola virus plan development (Nyenswah, et. al, 2015).
Participation
Urgency should be created as by this will make the feeling of responsiveness among the
members. Ebola virus is spreading at a higher pace so there is a great need to work upon it. This
responsiveness feeling will make them more active. The delegation of the tasks will be made to
each community member so that nobody is ambiguous about their roles and responsibilities.
Two-way communication channel will be used so that there can be good communication among
all the community members from the top level to the bottom level and all the information for the
planning, and actions can be known to all. The resources can be targeted easily and effectively if
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there is community participation. This will allow people to be more responsive (Santibañez, et.
al, 2015).
Organization
Community organization is featured by the volunteers’ mobilization. A leadership team will be
identified in the ACP community for leading the purpose of making a plan for this emergency of
Ebola disease. The common vision for the same will be spreading the awareness and taking the
active actions and precautions to fight against the threat of it; Strategies for the Ebola virus
preventions and education will be made including defining of roles and responsibilities of each
member. Mobilization of people will be done by a gathering of members and collective action
will be taken for the achievement of this mission. Prevention programs, events will be organized
for educating people about the Ebola virus. Sharing of the responsibilities of the community and
each member, intentions towards the stakeholders, meetings with the government and corporate
decision-makers will be organized so that they can behold responsible and accountable for their
actions (Green, 2014).
Capacity building
Capacity building refers to the process in which the organizations and members improve, obtain,
and retain the skills, tools, knowledge, equipment, or other resources for the competent
performance of jobs. For ensuring that the capacity of the ACP community members is building
high the training will be given to them regarding the programs and events that will be conducted
for the Ebola relates issues and symptoms. The collaboration will be made by the ACP
community with the other Australian health institutes and agencies so that their professional
doctors and consultants can help for the success of the Ebola plan and awareness program. Skills
development of the member through training will enhance the effectiveness of the emergency
plan which will help in making the Ebola virus programs and events successful. The proper
monitoring will be also be done regarding plan and actions so that the corrective actions can take
place for the same (Arwady, et. al, 2014).
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Action
The programs and events for the Ebola virus education and awareness spreading will be
conducted. The professional medical doctors will be invited in these events and programs and
they will give lectures and discussions will be made with the people attending the events. The
medical checkup of the poor people will be done free of cost. The people will be made aware
that they should avoid the infected people, body fluids of the infected people, and a dead body.
The avoidance of contact should be made with animals like monkey and bats along with their
meat. Ebola vaccine will be given to the people so that they can prevent the infection of the
Ebola that may lead to the death of the humans. The promotion of these events will be conducted
through the advertisement in the social media, newspaper, and big hoardings will also be used so
that maximum number of population can get to know about the occurrence of these events and
attend it so that it can result in getting the success and preventing measures can be known to
most of the people (Marais, et. al, 2015).
Empowerment
Community empowerment is necessary as it helps in generating knowledge and is used for
improving life quality. Proper controlling and monitoring will be exercised if the whole plan is
executed properly as planned so that the corrective actions can be taken by the management of
the community. The empowerment is given to the leaders to make the decisions regarding this
area (Chevalier, et. al, 2014).
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Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded from the whole report that Ebola virus is a very rare disease which is
caused by Ebola virus and the symptoms for this disease include having a fever, diarrhea, and
body aches. It also causes bleeding inside the body and outside the body. The immunity power of
the human either slows down or damaged due to this. An emergency plan was made in this
project report by ACP which is the Australian community and this community has developed the
plan for fighting against the threat that is causing due to the Ebola virus. The community has
decided to organize the events and different programs in Australia to spread awareness about this
disease where the various high and top professional doctors will be invited who will educate the
people about it and the symptoms of this disease so that the preventive actions can be taken at the
initial stage only as this disease is such which can cause loss to the human life.
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References
 Arwady, M. A., Garcia, E. L., Wollor, B., Mabande, L. G., Reaves, E. J., & Montgomery,
J. M. (2014). Reintegration of Ebola survivors into their communities—Firestone
District, Liberia, 2014. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 63(50), 1207.
 Baize, S., Pannetier, D., Oestereich, L., Rieger, T., Koivogui, L., Magassouba, N. F., ... &
Tiffany, A. (2014). The emergence of Zaire Ebola virus disease in Guinea. New England
Journal of Medicine, 371(15), 1418-1425.
 Chevalier, M. S., Chung, W., Smith, J., Weil, L. M., Hughes, S. M., Joyner, S. N., ... &
Threadgill, H. (2014). Ebola virus disease cluster in the United States—Dallas county,
Texas, 2014. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 63(46), 1087.
 Crowe, S., Hertz, D., Maenner, M., Ratnayake, R., Baker, P., Lash, R. R., ... & Gorina, Y.
(2015). A plan for community event-based surveillance to reduce Ebola transmission—
Sierra Leone, 2014–2015. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 64(3), 70.
 Green, A. (2014). WHO and partners launch Ebola response plan. The Lancet, 384(9942),
481.
 Marais, F., Minkler, M., Gibson, N., Mwau, B., Mehtar, S., Ogunsola, F., ... & Corburn,
J. (2015). A community-engaged infection prevention and control approach to
Ebola. Health promotion international, 31(2), 440-449.
 Nyenswah, T., Blackley, D. J., Freeman, T., Lindblade, K. A., Arzoaquoi, S. K., Mott, J.
A., ... & Laney, A. S. (2015). Community Quarantine to Interrupt Ebola Virus
Transmission—Mawah Village, Bong County, Liberia, August–October, 2014. MMWR.
Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 64(7), 179.
 Santibañez, S., Siegel, V., O'Sullivan, M., Lacson, R., & Jorstad, C. (2015). Health
communications and community mobilization during an Ebola response: partnerships
with community and faith-based organizations. Public Health Reports, 130(2), 128-133.
 WHO Ebola Response Team. (2014). Ebola virus disease in West Africa—the first 9
months of the epidemic and forward projections. New England Journal of
Medicine, 371(16), 1481-1495.
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