Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Gunotsav

Primary education is the foundation on which the development of every citizen and the nation as a whole built on. In recent past, India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to the economic development of India. At the same time, the quality of elementary education in India has also been a major concern. Student of primary school at least have basic knowledge of reading, writing and simple mathematics equations which may be helpful in performing their daily activities.

While in Gujarat there has been notable focus and efforts on enrollment, and have brought a fare share of success for the primary education, concern for learning outcomes and quality provided in primary education has been addressed by various enhancement programmes for learning improvement. It is for strengthening the quality outcomes, the government of Gujarat launched a programme called Gunotsav, or 'Celebrating Quality'. Therefore Gunotsav is defined as an accountability framework for quality of primary education which includes learning outcomes of children as well as co-scholastic activities, use of resources and community participation.

This programme was started by the state Education department during November 2009, with an aim to evaluate primary education scenario and grade school teachers accordingly. State Government has seen primary education as a grass-root sector and initiated with revolutionary experiments. The government of Gujarat has initiated a series of steps to improve the level of learning in its schools across the state and wishes to take these efforts forward, so as to achieve visible and measurable positive change. Government's efforts have succeeded in increasing school enrollments and bringing down school drop-out ratio, two major concerns in education field. The aim is to ensure that Gujarat should be among the top three states of the country in terms of student learning outcomes over the next 5 years.

A unique example of being a state initiative-Gunotsav is carried out with the participation of all state departments to strengthen 'quality' components of the Dept of Education. Different state departments took up additional responsibilities for this period.

Objectives

Main objective is to ensure quality education for students in Government schools:

1. To bring awareness among teachers, students, administrators, communities & stakeholders for quality education.
2. To ensure the enhancement of reading, writing and numerical skills for all children studying in primary schools (Std 2 to 5).
3. To ensure the enhancement of subject knowledge for all children studying in upper primary sections (Std 6 to 8).
4. To assess quality based classroom teaching learning processes followed in schools. 5. To address gaps in achieving learning outcomes and to acknowledge achievement. 6. To track the children based on learning outcome levels and identify focus areas for remedial action. 7. To build an environment of accountability - for an outcome oriented performance at all levels across scholastic, co-scholastic outcomes and stakeholder participation.

Process

This statewide exercise has been an annual feature for four years now and will continue.

Gunotsav is carried out state wide in two phases,

1. The assessment is conducted for over 52 lakh children of classes 2-8. In the first phase, self evaluation is done by covering 100% schools and is also known as Self Evaluation phase.

2. In the second phase, evaluation is done by 3000 senior government officials of Gujarat covering around 9000 schools. As a part of the exercise top IAS, IPS, IFS and other officers besides ministers went to the schools to access the parameters and grade them to evaluate the status of education in the state. Thus 25% of schools in each block (taluka) are assessed personally by senior Government bureaucrats and Class I & II officers.

The assessments conducted are consciously designed to test appropriate levels of conceptual understanding and their application by the children. Data from both phases is collated, compiled and analyzed by INDEXT B using latest information technology and the results are shared with stake holders enabling them to take appropriate action for the identified shortfalls. At the state level, Gunotsav visits yield valuable inputs and perspectives for policy making, along with identifying needs for making special efforts post Gunotsav.

Monitoring by External Parties - Unicef, Pratham & Educational Initiatives

Phase One

In the First phase self evaluation is done for 34177 primary schools which include all Government primary schools, Ashram schools and Granted schools. Before the first phase, schedules were shared at district, block, cluster and school level, for the self evaluation to be done in every school.
During the earlier three Gunotsavs, each school was given a school self evaluation booklet. It has instructions and guidelines for conducting the academic test for children and for the assessment of school infrastructure. All children of Std III to VII/VIII took the test for subjects like Math, Gujarati, English, Social Studies and Environmental Science. After the academic tests, teachers checked and graded each child for their respective classes and standards. Forms were filled and the data were submitted to the CRCC. Data gathered by all schools were uploaded on the Gunotsav web portal, within 15 days at the cluster level.

In April 2013 Gunotsav, each school was given a school Self evaluation booklet with instructions for conducting the academic test for children and for the assessment of co-scholastic activities, use of resources and community mobilization. Assessment was carried out in the presence of School
management committee (SMC). The School assessment format is designed for 55 indicators for 11 categories can be assessed on OMR based rating scale. Over 52 lakh children of standard II to VIII have been given unique DISE ID number as part of new system of Child Tracking for Learning Outcomes. For the purpose, children of Standard II to V were assessed for their performance in basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy; whereas children of standard VI to VIII took the OMR based test for all scholastic subjects including Gujarati, Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Mathematics, Social Sciences and Science and Technology. For standard 2 to 5 individual child wise results were prepared utilizing OMR sheets and uploaded centrally. For standard 6 to 8 child wise OMR based answer sheet each with unique DISE ID number were collected and the database was created during scanning by applying OMR / ICR / OCR technology and by applying various validations. Utilizing this database, iNDEXTb generated various reports and graphs for remedial measures. Similarly, reports / graphs for co-scholastic activities, use of resources and community mobilization were generated. This child wise database was placed online for utilization by schools.

Phase Two

Evaluation for the second phase follows the self evaluation. To create a spirit of a high priority to this cause and to make those in the field of education feel the value of this activity, the complete strength of government machinery is deployed with a first hand briefing by the Chief Minister to the participating officers in the state capital. Simultaneous satellite based conferences are held at district levels for district officers to share the process.

The second phase of Gunotsav involves 3000 senior bureaucrats of the State evaluate government primary schools covering 25% schools from all the blocks of the state. Officers and their teams visit one school each day and cover three schools in this exercise, each year. The team comprises of a senior state government official, accompanied by one or two members from his/her own department/office and a local liaison officer. Great emphasis is laid on uniform numbers of schools to be assesses in all clusters/blocks/districts of the state.

The Officer and team spend an entire day in the selected school (from morning assembly to the evening presentation by students and meeting with parents) The team has to reach before school time, participate in the assembly, participate in the school review and non academic and academic assessments-participate in the mid day meal and also review the school's basic facilities on matters of safety and utilization of resources.

After school hours, the officer and team interact with parents and take view and suggestions for educational activities in the village/school. At the end of the day, in school, Officers attend the cultural programme. This encourages the scope of participation among parents and makes them aware of their role in the school activities.

The class assessment by Officers in the selected schools is conducted for Reading, Math and English. For the 'Reading assessment'-in each standard, and in each division, 20 children or 20 % (whichever is much) are assessed. All the students of the class are assessed for Writing and Numeric Skills. There are specially prepared booklets for reading, writing and math. Officers and accompanying team members divide themselves in visiting classes in the school.

For reading-officers themselves assess the child's reading and grade them on their competency for reading. The written and math evaluation is checked by teachers in front of the officers, which the offices randomly check as well.

Apart from assessing the competencies in each subject, officers assessed parameters of co-scholastic activities, use of resources and community participation.

Main domains assessed in Gunotsav

Evolution of Gunotsav

There has been progressive changes in Gunotsav implementation every year. The following table shows the year wise detail of Gunotsav.

A report card for schools

Each school's final grade is based on the self evaluation done by the school and the evaluation done by the officer. This process is strict in its implementation and hence encourages each school to follow honest self evaluation procedures. Schools where only self evaluation was done, are graded on the marks obtained for performance in the self evaluation.

The evaluation gives 60% weightage for education /subject wise marks and 40% for school co-scholastic activities, use of resources and community participation etc. Report cards are prepared for 34177 schools. A grade summary is available for districts, talukas, schools and teachers.

Following graphs shows the results of last three Gunotsav

Child Tracking System for Learning Outcomes

The IT centre prepares CDs with district data for each of the 26 districts. The data has grading starting from teachers, schools, learning levels of children, CRCC and the cluster, BRCC and the block and a district report at a glance. Additionally, printed certificates for each of the above will be distributed by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan -SSA

The Guntosav portal developed by Education department & iNDEXTb is a store house of data for primary education, and can be used for planning annual activities at state, district and block levels. The web portal also strives to make data collection robust at all levels.
Gunotsav now uses OMR testing for children from standard II to VIII and OMR based assessment tools for school evaluation parameters also. It has made the process of data collection and data analysis even more credible and further enable complex analysis. It has enabled the state to initiate Child Tracking System for Learning Outcomes on a longitudinal basis for each individual child which will strengthen accountability within the system.

Recognition by Government of India

This Program has been recognized as one of the best practices in the 12th Five Year Plan document published by Planning Commission, Government of India.

English Started-1

પ્રાથમિક વાક્યો

અહિયા તમને કેટલાક પ્રાથમિક અંગ્રેજી વાક્યો મળશે જેનો તમે રોજ-બરોજ ની વાત-ચીત માં ઉપયોગ કરી શકશો તથા આ વાક્યો તમે કેટલીક નિશાની માં પણ જોઈ શકશો.

yes	હા
no	ના
maybe or perhaps	કદાચ

please	મેહરબાની કરીને

thanks	આભાર
thank you	તમારો આભાર

thanks very much	તમારો ખૂબ આભાર
thank you very much	તમારો ખૂબ ખૂબ આભાર

નીચે કેટલાક વાક્યો છે જેનો ઉપયોગ તમે ત્યારે કરી શૅકો જ્યારે કોઇી તમારો આભાર વ્યક્ત કરે.

you're welcome	તમારુ સ્વાગત છે.
not at all	ક્યારેય નહી

Saying hello and goodbye - નમસ્તે તથા આવજો

લોકો ને નમસ્તે કહેવાની કેટલીક રીતો

hi (quite informal)	કેમ છો?
hello	કેમ છો?

good morning (used before noon)	શુભ સવાર
good afternoon (used between noon and 6pm)	શુભ બપોર
good evening (used after 6pm)	શુભ સંધ્યા

લોકો ને વિદાય કહેવાની કેટલીક રીતો

bye	આવજો
goodbye	આવજો
goodnight	શુભ રાત્રી

see you!	ફરી મળિશુ
see you soon!	જલ્દી ફરી મળિશુ
see you later!	ફરી ક્યારેક મળિશુ

have a nice day!	તમારો દિવસ શુભ રહે
have a good weekend!	તમારો સપ્તાહ નો અંત શુભ રહે

Getting someone's attention and apologising - કોઇી નુ ધ્યાન ખેંચવુ તથા માફી માગવી

excuse me	માફ કરશો (કોઇી નુ ધ્યાન ખેચવા, કોઇી થી આગળ જવા કે માફી માગવા વાપરી શકાય)
sorry	માફ કરશો

જો કોઇી તમારી માફી માગે તો આનો જવાબ તમે આ રીતે આપી શકો

no problem

કાંઈ વાંધો નથી

it's OK or that's OK

બરાબર છે

Making yourself understood

do you speak English?	તમને અંગ્રેજી બોલતા આવડે છે?

I don't speak English	મને અંગ્રેજી બોલતા આવડતુ નથી.
I don't speak much English	મને વધુ અંગ્રેજી બોલતા આવડતુ નથી.
I only speak very little English	મને અંગ્રેજી બોલતા ઓછુ આવડે છે.
I speak a little English	હું બહુ ઓછુ અંગ્રેજી બોલી શકુ છુ.

please speak more slowly	થોડુ વધુ ધીમે બોલવા વિનંતી.
please write it down	મેહરબાની કરી ને તે લખો.
could you please repeat that?	મેહરબની કરી ને તેનુ પુનરાવર્તન કરશો ?

I understand	મને સમજણ પડી.
I don't understand	મને સમજણ પડી નથી.

Other basic phrases - બીજા પ્રાથમિક વાક્યો.

I know	મને ખબર છે
I don't know	મને ખબર નથી.

excuse me, where's the toilet?	માફ કરશો,શૌચાલય ક્યા છે?
excuse me, where's the Gents?	માફ કરશો,પુરુષો માટે શૌચાલય ક્યા છે?
excuse me, where's the Ladies?	માફ કરશો,સ્ત્રી માટે શૌચાલય ક્યા છે?

Things you might see - ચીજો જે તમે જુઓ છો.

Entrance	પ્રવેશ
Exit	નિકાસ
Emergency exit	આપાતકાલીન નિકાસ

Push	ધક્કો મારવો
Pull	ખેંચો

Toilets	શૌચાલય
WC	શૌચાલય
Gentlemen (often abbreviated to Gents)	સદ ગૃહસ્થ
Ladies	સ્ત્રી
Vacant	ખાલી
Occupied or Engaged	વપરાશ મા

Out of order	ખરાબ/ બગડેલુ
No smoking	ધુમ્રપાન નિષેધ
Private	ખાનગી
No entry	પ્રવેશ નિષેધ

અંગ્રેજી શબ્દભંડોળ

નીચે કેટલાક ભાષાકીય વિષયો ને આધારિત શબ્દભંડોળ છે જે તમારુ અંગ્રેજી શબ્દભંડોળ વધારવામા મદદ કરશે. જો તમારી કોઈ ટીપ્પણી કે સૂચનો હોય તો મહેરબાની કરીને અમને જણાવો.

નંબર
રંગ
અઠવાડિયા ના દિવસો
મહિનાઓ તથા ઋતુઓ
રજાઓ તથા તહેવારો
પરિવાર
હવામાન
લોકો ની ઓળખાણ આપવી
કપડા તથા અંગત વસ્તુઓ
દેશો તથા નાગરિકતા
રૂપિયા
ખંડો તથા દુનિયા ના વિસ્તારો
દુનિયાના શહેરો
બ્રિટન ના શહેરો
અમેરિકા ના શહેરો
ભૌગોલિક નિશાની તથા શબ્દો
ઘર તથા બગીચો
રસોડુ
રાચ-રચિલુ તથા ઘરની વસ્તુઓ
ઘરકામ નો સામાન
તમારી જાતે કરો

ભણતર
ભણવાના વિષયો
નિમણૂક
ધંધા
ઉધ્યોગો
પ્રાણીઓ
પાળેલા પ્રાણીઓ
ઉછેરવા માટેના પ્રાણીઓ
જંગલી પ્રાણીઓ
દુર્લભ પ્રાણીઓ
પક્ષીઓ
જીવડા
માછલી તથા જળચર પ્રાણીઓ
છોડવા
સાધનો
આકાર તથા ગણીતિક શબ્દો
ફોન
કંપ્યૂટર તથા ઇંટરનેટ
સામાન્ય શબ્દો

IAS Preparations

NCERT and NIOS Books for IAS Preparations

There is a great hype about the NCERT and NIOS books, for the preparations of the civil services examination. While everyone suggests the aspirants to read the NCERT and NIOS books, no one take the effort to explain, to the candidate, how to read these books. Therefore, UPSCPORTAL presents an analysis of these books, and a rational strategy to deal with them.

Indeed, these books are helpful for starting with the civil services, as these provide the aspirant with easy to understand language and graphic illustrations. Understanding any concept from the NCERT and NIOS books becomes an easy task. Since these books are generally compiled for the school students, the level of complexity is kept to a minimal level. Thus, a mature person, preparing for the IAS exam, is able to comprehend the ideas and facts given in the books.

However, it is important to learn about how to study the NCERT and NIOS books, from civil services exam point of view. The main aim, with which these books are recommended to the civil services aspirants, is to gain a comprehensive idea about he various issues and concepts, that form the foundation of the various disciplines.

Since the content of these books provide a bird's eye view of the various concepts, one must not rely on these books entirely. Instead, these should be used with an aim of forming a broad understanding of the concepts and topics, covered under the civil services syllabus. For a good preparation, you must complement the content given in the NCERT and NIOS material, with other resources. Given the level of the civil services examination, it is necessary to develop a knowledge base, higher than the standards of the NCERT and NIOS books.

The purpose of these books is to guide in your initial stages. Ones you are comfortable with the various concepts of the different disciplines, you must shift your attention to the richer study material. However, this does not imply that your study of these books should be cursory. While reading such books, you must give attention to the various concepts and terms discussed. Since the level of complexity is not much, you would be able to find the concept, defined and discussed in a very crisp and concise language. Thus, you must be able to get a thorough understanding of all the relevant topics and issues mentioned in these books.

Click here for NCERT and NIOS books for Civil Services Prelims Preparation
Click here for NCERT for Civil Services Mains Preparations

Old Vs. New NCERT: Why the Confusion??

Many of the aspirant are confused about whether to read the old or the new NCERT books. There is a need to understand the fact that both the sources are good, and would suffice your goal. However, the old NCERT are generally more rich in content and description, but less appealing in terms of colors and pictures! The New NCERT books, on the other hand, are made more colorful and attractive. However, many of the topics in the new NCERT have been discarded owing to the changing syllabus and political controversies.

However, a candidate should not bother much about the reliability of the NCERT books. Generally, both- New as well as Old- NCERT would effectively help you in preparing for the civil services. Thus, do not waste your time in reading both the books back-to-back. Instead, build your foundations and proceed to the next stage of preparations.

Moreover, you must take what is readily available in the market. The old NCERT books are generally out of stock, and thus unavailable. Therefore, instead of searching the markets for the old books, it is better to go the ones that are easily available.
UPSCPORTAL has also provided for the free soft copies of the NCERT and NIOS books, to the aspirants. So, please make use of the opportunity and prepare well.
We wish the candidates All the Best!!

Ebola virus disease

Key facts

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.
EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%.
EVD outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.
Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola virus.
Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. No licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals.

Ebola first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, in Nzara, Sudan, and in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter was in a village situated near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.
Genus Ebolavirus is 1 of 3 members of the Filoviridae family (filovirus), along with genus Marburgvirus and genus Cuevavirus. Genus Ebolavirus comprises 5 distinct species:

Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV)
Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV)
Reston ebolavirus (RESTV)
Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV)
Taï Forest ebolavirus (TAFV).

BDBV, EBOV, and SUDV have been associated with large EVD outbreaks in Africa, whereas RESTV and TAFV have not. The RESTV species, found in Philippines and the People’s Republic of China, can infect humans, but no illness or death in humans from this species has been reported to date.

Transmission

Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.
Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids. Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.
Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed EVD. This has occurred through close contact with patients when infection control precautions are not strictly practiced.
Among workers in contact with monkeys or pigs infected with Reston ebolavirus, several infections have been documented in people who were clinically asymptomatic. Thus, RESTV appears less capable of causing disease in humans than other Ebola species.
However, the only available evidence available comes from healthy adult males. It would be premature to extrapolate the health effects of the virus to all population groups, such as immuno-compromised persons, persons with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women and children. More studies of RESTV are needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn about the pathogenicity and virulence of this virus in humans.

Signs and symptoms

EVD is a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes.
People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. Ebola virus was isolated from semen 61 days after onset of illness in a man who was infected in a laboratory.
The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is 2 to 21 days.

Diagnosis

Other diseases that should be ruled out before a diagnosis of EVD can be made include: malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, cholera, leptospirosis, plague, rickettsiosis, relapsing fever, meningitis, hepatitis and other viral haemorrhagic fevers.
Ebola virus infections can be diagnosed definitively in a laboratory through several types of tests:

antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
antigen detection tests
serum neutralization test
reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay
electron microscopy
virus isolation by cell culture.

Samples from patients are an extreme biohazard risk; testing should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions.

Vaccine and treatment

No licensed vaccine for EVD is available. Several vaccines are being tested, but none are available for clinical use.
Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. Patients are frequently dehydrated and require oral rehydration with solutions containing electrolytes or intravenous fluids.
No specific treatment is available. New drug therapies are being evaluated.

Natural host of Ebola virus

In Africa, fruit bats, particularly species of the genera Hypsignathus monstrosus, Epomops franqueti and Myonycteris torquata, are considered possible natural hosts for Ebola virus. As a result, the geographic distribution of Ebolaviruses may overlap with the range of the fruit bats.

Ebola virus in animals

Although non-human primates have been a source of infection for humans, they are not thought to be the reservoir but rather an accidental host like human beings. Since 1994, Ebola outbreaks from the EBOV and TAFV species have been observed in chimpanzees and gorillas.
RESTV has caused severe EVD outbreaks in macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) farmed in Philippines and detected in monkeys imported into the USA in 1989, 1990 and 1996, and in monkeys imported to Italy from Philippines in 1992.
Since 2008, RESTV viruses have been detected during several outbreaks of a deadly disease in pigs in People’s Republic of China and Philippines. Asymptomatic infection in pigs has been reported and experimental inoculations have shown that RESTV cannot cause disease in pigs.

Prevention and control

Controlling Reston ebolavirus in domestic animals

No animal vaccine against RESTV is available. Routine cleaning and disinfection of pig or monkey farms (with sodium hypochlorite or other detergents) should be effective in inactivating the virus.
If an outbreak is suspected, the premises should be quarantined immediately. Culling of infected animals, with close supervision of burial or incineration of carcasses, may be necessary to reduce the risk of animal-to-human transmission. Restricting or banning the movement of animals from infected farms to other areas can reduce the spread of the disease.
As RESTV outbreaks in pigs and monkeys have preceded human infections, the establishment of an active animal health surveillance system to detect new cases is essential in providing early warning for veterinary and human public health authorities.

Reducing the risk of Ebola infection in people

In the absence of effective treatment and a human vaccine, raising awareness of the risk factors for Ebola infection and the protective measures individuals can take is the only way to reduce human infection and death.
In Africa, during EVD outbreaks, educational public health messages for risk reduction should focus on several factors:

Reducing the risk of wildlife-to-human transmission from contact with infected fruit bats or monkeys/apes and the consumption of their raw meat. Animals should be handled with gloves and other appropriate protective clothing. Animal products (blood and meat) should be thoroughly cooked before consumption.
Reducing the risk of human-to-human transmission in the community arising from direct or close contact with infected patients, particularly with their bodily fluids. Close physical contact with Ebola patients should be avoided. Gloves and appropriate personal protective equipment should be worn when taking care of ill patients at home. Regular hand washing is required after visiting patients in hospital, as well as after taking care of patients at home.
Communities affected by Ebola should inform the population about the nature of the disease and about outbreak containment measures, including burial of the dead. People who have died from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried.

Pig farms in Africa can play a role in the amplification of infection because of the presence of fruit bats on these farms. Appropriate biosecurity measures should be in place to limit transmission. For RESTV, educational public health messages should focus on reducing the risk of pig-to-human transmission as a result of unsafe animal husbandry and slaughtering practices, and unsafe consumption of fresh blood, raw milk or animal tissue. Gloves and other appropriate protective clothing should be worn when handling sick animals or their tissues and when slaughtering animals. In regions where RESTV has been reported in pigs, all animal products (blood, meat and milk) should be thoroughly cooked before eating.

Controlling infection in health-care settings

Human-to-human transmission of the Ebola virus is primarily associated with direct or indirect contact with blood and body fluids. Transmission to health-care workers has been reported when appropriate infection control measures have not been observed.
It is not always possible to identify patients with EBV early because initial symptoms may be non-specific. For this reason, it is important that health-care workers apply standard precautions consistently with all patients – regardless of their diagnosis – in all work practices at all times. These include basic hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment (according to the risk of splashes or other contact with infected materials), safe injection practices and safe burial practices.
Health-care workers caring for patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola virus should apply, in addition to standard precautions, other infection control measures to avoid any exposure to the patient’s blood and body fluids and direct unprotected contact with the possibly contaminated environment. When in close contact (within 1 metre) of patients with EBV, health-care workers should wear face protection (a face shield or a medical mask and goggles), a clean, non-sterile long-sleeved gown, and gloves (sterile gloves for some procedures).
Laboratory workers are also at risk. Samples taken from suspected human and animal Ebola cases for diagnosis should be handled by trained staff and processed in suitably equipped laboratories.

WHO response

WHO provides expertise and documentation to support disease investigation and control.
Recommendations for infection control while providing care to patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola haemorrhagic fever are provided in: Interim infection control recommendations for care of patients with suspected or confirmed Filovirus (Ebola, Marburg) haemorrhagic fever, March 2008. This document is currently being updated.
WHO has created an aide–memoire on standard precautions in health care (currently being updated). Standard precautions are meant to reduce the risk of transmission of bloodborne and other pathogens. If universally applied, the precautions would help prevent most transmission through exposure to blood and body fluids.
Standard precautions are recommended in the care and treatment of all patients regardless of their perceived or confirmed infectious status. They include the basic level of infection control—hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment to avoid direct contact with blood and body fluids, prevention of needle stick and injuries from other sharp instruments, and a set of environmental controls.

Table: Chronology of previous Ebola virus disease outbreaks

Year	Country	Ebolavirus species	Cases	Deaths	Case fatality
2012	Democratic Republic of Congo	Bundibugyo	57	29	51%
2012	Uganda	Sudan	7	4	57%
2012	Uganda	Sudan	24	17	71%
2011	Uganda	Sudan	1	1	100%
2008	Democratic Republic of Congo	Zaire	32	14	44%
2007	Uganda	Bundibugyo	149	37	25%
2007	Democratic Republic of Congo	Zaire	264	187	71%
2005	Congo	Zaire	12	10	83%
2004	Sudan	Sudan	17	7	41%
2003 (Nov-Dec)	Congo	Zaire	35	29	83%
2003 (Nov-Dec)	Congo	Zaire	35	29	83%
2003 (Jan-Apr)	Congo	Zaire	143	128	90%
2003 (Jan-Apr)	Congo	Zaire	143	128	90%
2001-2002	Congo	Zaire	59	44	75%
2001-2002	Gabon	Zaire	65	53	82%
2000	Uganda	Sudan	425	224	53%
1996	South Africa (ex-Gabon)	Zaire	1	1	100%
1996 (Jul-Dec)	Gabon	Zaire	60	45	75%
1996 (Jul-Dec)	Gabon	Zaire	60	45	75%
1996 (Jan-Apr)	Gabon	Zaire	31	21	68%
1996 (Jan-Apr)	Gabon	Zaire	31	21	68%
1995	Democratic Republic of Congo	Zaire	315	254	81%
1994	Cote d'Ivoire	Taï Forest	1	0	0%
1994	Gabon	Zaire	52	31	60%
1979	Sudan	Sudan	34	22	65%
1977	Democratic Republic of Congo	Zaire	1	1	100%
1976	Sudan	Sudan	284	151	53%
1976	Democratic Republic of Congo	Zaire	318	280	88%

For more information contact:

WHO Media centre
Telephone: +41 22 791 2222
E-mail: mediainquiries@who.int

Sunday, August 10, 2014

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