Transfer to the Guinean authorities of the teams from ERARE, the mechanism to combat epidemics

The ceremony was organised by Expertise France and presided over by the Minister of Health and gathered over a hundred guests at the Palais du Peuple in Conakry.

The Guinean Minister of Health, the Delegation of the European Union in Guinea and the French Embassy in Guinea came back to the quality of the work carried out by Expertise France and its partners: the Bioforce Development Institute, French Civil Security, the International Federation of Red Cross, the Guinean Red Cross, and Santé Publique France.

Building epidemic prevention, preparation and response capacities

For nearly 3 years, PREPARE supported the training, equipment and mobilisation of 8 regional teams exclusively made up of Guinean health staff. These teams of 24 people (38 in Conakry) were prepositioned in the 8 regions of Guinea and now facilitate the surveillance, early detection and rapid treatment of infectious diseases with epidemic potential, before they reach the epidemic threshold.

Since the deployment of these ERARE teams, they have conducted over 300 missions nationwide and have worked on epidemics of measles, meningitis, yellow fever, pertussis, hepatitis, polio and anthrax.

ANSS: a key actor in managing health risks

The ERARE teams aim to provide a short-term response to a health crisis, and also constitute a sustainable tool available to the Guinean authorities to fight against epidemics.

The PREPARE project has been implemented at the request of the Guinean authorities and has been designed to provide a sustainable response to epidemics. The ERARE teams are established in Guinean health regions and are thereby integrated into Guinea’s national health monitoring and safety system.

The PREPARE project has also been conducted working closely with the Guinean Ministry of Health and National Coordination of the Fight Against Ebola (CNLE), which became the Guinean National Agency for Health Security (ANSS) in 2016.

The PREPARE closing ceremony thereby symbolised the hand-over and takeover of the ERARE mechanism by the Guinean authorities.

The ERARE are today the cornerstone of the national health surveillance and security system. The ERARE teams are set to extend the scope of their missions and already play an active role in the supervision of Prefectoral Directorates of Health (DPS), and in the future establishment of Prefectoral Epidemic Alert and Response Teams (EPARE).