The Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - Data Management Implementation and Outcomes for Movement and Monitoring of Travelers at Points of Entry

• Main Author: Washburn, Faith M
• Format: Others
• Published: ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University 2015
• Subjects: Data management; resource-limited; Ebola; travel restrictions; Epi Info
• Online Access: http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/iph_theses/371; http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1397&context=iph_theses

Data management in resource-limited settings can be a mountainous problem if not approached with a thorough understanding of those limitations and a mindset prepared for rapid changes in the environment. Data management becomes even more challenging at multiple points of entry, where there are many interwoven parts working together in order to get a potential traveler from his/her first steps into an airport area to boarding a plane, all while ensuring that the traveler has been thoroughly screened for any signs or symptoms of a possible Ebola virus disease infection. This capstone describes the history of the International Health Regulations’ effects on control of disease spread and importation at points of entry, the Do Not Board/Lookout List’s role in disease control in the United States, and the CDC’s International Assistance Team’s unique task in creating and implementing country-specific databases to meet the needs of Ebola-affected countries. The most critical data management need at these countries’ points of entry is specifically to prevent the exportation of Ebola virus disease in order to keep each country’s airspace open and allow goods, personnel and services to continue to be imported into these countries during this sustained Ebola outbreak.