Moustapha Diallo, IFRC Dakar
It is six o’clock in Richard-Toll, a town of 100,000 inhabitants located in northern Senegal. The breaking dawn gives way to the rising sun. People start getting out of bed, amid the sweet tranquillity that reigns in this cosmopolitan town that hosts one of the largest sugar companies in West Africa.
A mysterious disease called “goanna” has broken out in the town, mainly in the Khouma neighbourhood. After careful analysis in the laboratories, this new virus is said to be the outcome of a genetic mutation of the avian A H5N1 virus and the pandemic influenza A H1N1 virus that was widely spread across the world in 2009.
Six contamination cases and two fatalities were recorded during its first onset. Within a few days, the virus has claimed eleven new victims, including one fatality. A rapid disease-containment operation is launched under the supervision of the prefect of Richard-Toll, very early in the morning, in the Khouma neighbourhood.
This is the pretext of a fictitious scenario developed by the Senegalese Red Cross Society, as well as town authorities, to organise a large-scale simulation exercise to test the Senegalese Red Cross’ disaster preparedness and response plan for pandemics.
Assessment of capacities
The exercise is aimed at assessing the operational capacities of the Senegalese Red Cross Society and its capacity to work with other organisations in the case of a disaster. It assesses the level of integration and coordination mechanisms between the Senegalese Red Cross plan and the national disaster contingency plan of Senegal. This includes assessing the civil-military coordination capacities for response to a pandemic disaster, while also strengthening the stakeholder network of local, national and international partners who are also invited to the simulation.
“This operation brings together all of the actors involved in the organisation of relief which is crucial during an emergency,” says Dr. Abdoulaye Wone, Senegalese Red Cross Society project manager for humanitarian preparedness to the pandemic influenza (H2P). “It enables us to test in real life our plans and coordination mechanisms should such a pandemic occur”.
Roles and collaboration
The Senegalese Red Cross Society plays a critical role in the disaster preparedness and response mechanism. Our society is present in Senegal’s national intervention coordination plan called “operational command post”.
In the field, we operate in close collaboration with different government services, including civil defence, police force and health facilities. For the simulation, some 63 volunteers were mobilized as well as important material and logistical inventory.
Senegalese Red Cross Society volunteers also took part in the simulation, providing comfort to the sick and referring them to medical facilities, distributing hygiene items and food, and raising community awareness of the disease.
Post-simulation assessment
At 11:45 a.m. the situation is under control, ending the containment operation for this fictitious disease in the Khouma neighbourhood. A group of observers from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the OCHA Regional Office, the Direction de la Protection Civile in Senegal and a US AFRICOMM delegation from Germany were in charge of reviewing all of the simulation phases. At the end of the exercise, they unanimously commended the outstanding performance achieved by the Senegalese Red Cross Society and suggested that the exercise be implemented at the regional and national scale. “This Red Cross plan is today the only pandemic preparedness and response plan that is not only finalised but that has also been tested in a large scale, real life capacity,” says chief warrant officer Ousmane Sidibé of the Direction de la Protection Civile, representing the Ministry of the Interior.
Moving forward
In Richard-Toll, the Senegalese Red Cross Society, the operation’s partners and the local population are hopeful that the scenario tested will never happen, but if it does, they will be ready. A similar operation at the national level is currently under development in Dakar with support from the Central Fund for Influenza Action (CFIA). Additionally, US AFRICOMM will support the Government of Senegal in refining its pandemic contingency plan in 2011. Committed to saving lives and changing minds, the Senegalese Red Cross Society will play a critical role in both activities moving forward.