Use of a nationwide call center for Ebola response and monitoring during a 3-day house-to-house campaign - Sierra Leone, September 2014.

During May 23, 2014-January 10, 2015, Sierra Leone reported 7,777 confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (Ebola). In response to the epidemic, on August 5, Sierra Leone's Emergency Operations Center established a toll-free, nationwide Ebola call center. The purpose of the call center is to encourage public reporting of possible Ebola cases and deaths to public health officials and to provide health education about Ebola to callers. This information also functions as an "alert" system for public health officials and supports surveillance efforts for the response. National call center dispatchers call district-level response teams composed of surveillance officers and burial teams to inform them of reported deaths and possible Ebola cases. Members of these response teams investigate cases and conduct follow-up actions such as transporting ill persons to Ebola treatment units or providing safe, dignified medical burials as resources permit. The call center continues to operate. This report describes calls received during a 3-day national campaign and reports the results of an assessment of the call center operation during the campaign.