Logistics and Capacity Development Support for the Humanitarian Community’s Response to the Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in Liberia

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have experienced the largest outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in history. Since October 2014, WFP has played an essential role in the response to the outbreak by providing extensive common logistics services to all responders through the Regional Special Operation 200773. Under this operation, ending on 31 December 2015, WFP set up the logistics backbone of the health response across the three countries.

Despite the decrease in the number and geographical spread of cases, the reintroduction and/or re-emergence of EVD still poses a threat. The response has thus moved into a third phase, foreseen to end mid-2016, which aims to end transmission chains and sustain a resilient zero by rapidly detecting and stopping any new emergence of the virus.

The Special Operation tailored to Liberia’s context will allow WFP to leverage the recently established infrastructure and logistics capacity used throughout 2014 and

2015. This will enable WFP to continue to provide a highly able and dedicated rapid response mechanism to deal with potential small-scale outbreaks, while further increasing and enhancing the EVD readiness and recovery activities of the national government and partners.

This Special Operation will have duration of six months at a total estimated cost of US$ 4,935,160.