DRC project facilitating Ebola crisis hotline

World Health Organization (WHO) workers respond to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC (photo from WHOL.L Mackenzie).

The most recent outbreak of Ebola in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) poses a unique set of challenges as a result of the persistent threat of armed violence, overcrowded camps for internally displaced people, and an influx of refugees from the bordering countries. These challenges mount in addition to healthcare responders’ need to access factual information about cases of Ebola, and to connect vulnerable or displaced communities with international and Congolese health agencies.

Since 2008, ABA ROLI has worked in the DRC alongside government and civil society partners to strengthen government institutions and reinforce people’s capacity to access justice and demand accountability. One element of ABA ROLI’s programming there has been the development of a digital Early Warning System in partnership with Congolese police in the Civil Protection Units (CPU) to establish a permanent and secure means of rapid communication between public security forces and civilians living in vulnerable areas of eastern DRC. Recently, the Ebola Emergency Operations Center, charged with responding to the outbreak, announced that the EWS hotline will now also connect affected communities with healthcare workers from the World Health Organization and Congolese Ministry of Health.

The EWS relies on SMS messaging and GPS technology to anonymously alert authorities to potential threats and outbreaks of violence against civilians, such as attacks by armed groups. Now, in communities at risk of Ebola contraction, a trustworthy citizen will be responsible for sending SMS reports to the CPU to alert healthcare workers of potential cases of Ebola. ABA ROLI’s partners in the CPU that operate the EWS will be trained on how to correctly assess reports of Ebola cases from the DRC’s north-eastern provinces, and share reports with the Ebola Emergency Operations Center.

To ensure the protection of civilians, ABA ROLI collaborates with communities, police, and military units in the region to apply simple, reliable, technology that can be adapted to address a multitude of problems. Thanks to the flexibility of the EWS, in-country users are able to respond to many different threats to the civilian population, from attacks by armed groups to the outbreak of a deadly disease.

The Early Warning and Response System is made possible with the generous support of the United States Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Affairs.

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