■ As soon as the alert is sounded, an outbreak management committee responsible for organising the response is created or reactivated at each level.
■ The role of the committee is to define the strategies, organise free care, coordinate the partners, monitor implementation, draw up the projected budget and prepare the evaluation of the response.
■ A reliable data entry and transmission system is essential to detecting the outbreak, monitoring its course and orienting the response.
■ Epidemiological data analysis is done each week at all levels.
■ Patient care is decentralised to shorten the time between the onset of symptoms and the start of treatment.
■ Treatment is free of charge.
■ Patients are isolated.
■ The distribution of treatments kit facilitates supply.
■ Treatments should be available at all health care facilities throughout the outbreak. Regular monitoring of treatment availability allows supply planning.
■ Analysing the specific attack rates by age group and location helps determine which areas to vaccinate first and the age of the target population.
■ The choice of outbreak response vaccination strategy is guided by the risk of spread of the epidemic.
■ Emergency vaccination campaign preparation should take no more than two weeks.
■ Information and social mobilisation are implemented as soon as the outbreak is confirmed.
■ A broad range of media should be used to transmit messages.