Ebola virus outbreak preparedness plan for developing Nations: Lessons learnt from affected countries

Background: Ebola virus (EBOV); a public health emergency of international concern,is known to pose threat of global outbreaks. EBOV has spread in African continent and due to unchecked international travel, importation of cases has been reported in different countries. In this alarming scenario, developing countries need to evaluate and upgrade their preparedness plan to contain the spread of EBOV. The present review lays down the updated preparedness plan for developing countries to contain future EBOV outbreaks. Methods: The literature on EBOV outbreaks and preparedness strategies reported were searched on Pubmed and Google Scholar using the MeSH terms such as Ebola virus disease, Epidemic, Outbreak, Imported case, Preparedness, Public health interventionscombined with Boolean operator (OR) for the period of 2011-2020. Additionally, World Health organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) websites were searched for the guidelines, reports, containment strategies, containment plan of countries, actions taken by countries and international partners, etc. Results: The present review analyzed the EBOV outbreaks between 2011-2020 and containment strategies used by the affected countries. Based on the lessons learned from EBOV outbreaks and personal experience in infectious disease management, we have recommended a preparedness and response plan for EBOV containment in developing countries. Conclusion: Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to major outbreaks of EBOV due to increased international travel and unchecked transmission. The recommended preparedness plan will help developing counties to contain EBOV outbreaks in future. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.