Session 2.1. Understanding an epidemic
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
- Ask the right questions when you investigate and assess an epidemic.
Part 2.1.1. Asking questions about an epidemic: the assessment
To be able to manage an epidemic and help affected people and communities, it is important to understand the specific situation. To respond effectively to an epidemic, we need to know certain things.
Volunteers can play an important role in early detection of outbreaks because they have close links with the community and may notice unusual events or clusters of events that are not reported to the health authorities.
To understand an epidemic, we need to ask: What? Who? Where? When?
The box below lists some of the questions you might ask during an epidemic assessment. The list is not exhaustive. Can you think of other questions to add to it? Discuss these questions with your colleagues and facilitator.
What?
What disease is causing this epidemic?
On what scale is the epidemic?
In what ways is the epidemic spreading?
What preventive and management measures are appropriate for this kind of epidemic?
What can be done to reduce the spread of the disease?
What do people know about the disease?
What are their attitudes and preconceptions?
What key messages and information have you been given about the disease?
What rumours have you heard?
Who?
Who is affected by the epidemic?
How many people are sick or dead?
Who in the community is most vulnerable to the epidemic?
Who in the community is most at risk?
Who is responding to the epidemic?
Who can we work with?
Where?
Where is the epidemic occurring?
Where are other places under threat?
Where are our resources?
Where are the best places to work from?
Where can people obtain information?
When?
When did the epidemic start?
When was the epidemic confirmed?
When can we start working on the ground?
Answering these and other relevant questions is one of the key things we must do when we respond to an epidemic in our communities.
When we ask such questions and report the answers, we are making what is called an epidemic assessment. This is a very important step in the response to an epidemic. We will talk more about it when we discuss the epidemic response cycle in the next session.
| An epidemic assessment |
|---|
| gathers information on the nature, cause and scale of an epidemic, and on the community’s knowledge and beliefs about it. It involves asking and answering questions, collecting and analysing information, and using and reporting the information to others, to ensure that the response to the epidemic is adequate and appropriate. |
Part 2.1.2. How do we find the answers?
The questions in the above list are asked and answered on several levels. Nationally, they are asked and answered in the Ministry of Health and in the headquarters of your Red Cross Red Crescent National Society. Locally, they will also be asked and answered in your local Red Cross Red Crescent branch. You will be asking and answering them in your community too. Altogether, the answers that are gathered will assist everyone to understand the epidemic better.
Answers are obtained from different sources, but mainly from members of communities affected by the epidemic. They know about their environment, their lives and their situation, probably better than anyone else. Community leaders, families and health workers are some of the best sources of the information you will need.
To make an effective assessment, you need to be in the affected community and speak directly to members of that community. Use the communication skills you have learned to collect accurate answers that will help you and others to respond to the epidemic properly.
Participate
Tell your facilitators who you think should be asked the questions listed earlier. Those people may be health workers, village leaders, mothers - anyone you can talk to who you believe can provide useful information. Discuss different options with colleagues. You can ask several people the same questions.
Exercise
Your facilitator has prepared a scenario of an epidemic. You are a member of an assessment team for the epidemic. Ask your facilitator a question as if you are doing the assessment and say to whom you would address that question. When you have finished asking the questions, look at the answers and decide what the epidemic disease might be. What might be the next steps for dealing with it?