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WHO: Ebola survivors at risk of eye and joint problems

Sat, 2015-04-11 11:08 — mike kraft

BBC by Smitha Mundasad April 10, 2015
Many Ebola survivors are likely to face further health issues including eye and joint problems, the World Health Organization has warned....

Officials announced they are attempting to set up clinics in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea to monitor the health consequences Ebola survivors face.

Patients have reported problems with their vision, joints and on-going fatigue.

But Dr Bruce Aylward, assistant director general of the WHO, admitted not much was known about the long-term implications of the virus.

He said the information gathered at these clinics would help the mental and physical health needs of people recovering from the disease.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32250515

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Ebola virus: Liberia watchdog says $800,000 in funding for fight against outbreak unaccounted for

Thu, 2015-04-09 19:37 — mike kraft

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION April 9, 2015

Liberia's anti-corruption watchdog says some $800,000 in funding to fight the Ebola epidemic has not been properly accounted for, most of it passing through the defence ministry.

A report by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) covering the height of the outbreak last year analysed more than $13 million spent by the National Ebola Trust Fund (NETF).

"The conduct of the affairs of the ... [NETF] were marred by financial irregularities and material control deficiencies," read the report, published on the GAC web site....

The audit did not include donations from international organisations including the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign donors whose contribution did not flow through the NETF.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-10/liberia-watchdog-says-some-ebola-funds-unaccounted-for/6382402

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Ebola: media ‘overlooked Africa's role in combating crisis’

Tue, 2015-04-07 15:18 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Sam Jones April 7, 2015

Africa’s efforts to tackle the Ebola crisis have been largely overlooked even though Africans have taken the lead in providing frontline staff and shown themselves “better placed to fight infectious diseases in their continent than outsiders”, according to the African Union (AU).

A Liberian health worker checks the temperature of students to curb the spread of Ebola in Caldwell, outside the capital Monrovia. Photograph: Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA

Dr Olawale Maiyegun, director of social affairs at the AU commission, said that despite the fact that Africans had proved both willing and able to deal with Ebola, the focus had been on the work of international agencies and those with the greatest media clout.

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Yes, We Were Warned About Ebola

Tue, 2015-04-07 14:09 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED By BERNICE DAHN, VERA MUSSAH and CAMERON NUTT April 7, 2015
MONROVIA, Liberia — The conventional wisdom among public health authorities is that the Ebola virus, which killed at least 10,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, was a new phenomenon, not seen in West Africa before 2013. (The one exception was an anomalous case in Ivory Coast in 1994, when a Swiss primatologist was infected after performing an autopsy on a chimpanzee.)

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Ebola-hit Sierra Leone arrests 13 at unsafe burial: police

Tue, 2015-04-07 13:49 — mike kraft

AFP by Rod Mac Johnson April 7, 2015

FREETOWN -- Police in Ebola-hit Sierra Leone raided a funeral and arrested 13 people suspected of organising an unsafe burial, risking spreading the disease, officers said on Tuesday.

Police superintendent Da Samah said "heavily-armed" police arrived just in time to stop a 50-year-old man being interred on the outskirts of Freetown after they were tipped off about the ceremony....

He said those present at the funeral on Thursday last week were arrested because they had no burial permit or other required documents...

Palo Conteh, the national Ebola response chief, said traditional funeral rights involving contact with the dead remained the biggest driver of Ebola transmission.
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http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-hit-sierra-leone-arrests-13-unsafe-burial-132356956.html

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A Community-Engaged Infection Prevention and Control Approach to Ebola

Mon, 2015-04-06 21:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

CLICK HERE - A Community-Engaged Infection Prevention and Control Approach to Ebola

CLICK HERE - FULL TEXT LINKS - A Community-Engaged Infection Prevention and Control Approach to Ebola

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Ebola’s Newest Casualty: Health Care

Sat, 2015-04-04 22:40 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Baz Ratner/Reuters

thedailybeast.com - by Sheldon Yett - April 3, 2015

The worst of the Ebola epidemic may be over in Liberia, but the damage it inflicted on an already weak health care system could have catastrophic consequences.

Here in Liberia, the goal of zero Ebola cases is tantalizingly close. Only one new case has been recorded since 19 February, and 13 of the country’s 15 counties have not reported any new cases for over 42 days. But Ebola’s impact will be felt long after the last case has been treated.

As the battle against Ebola continues, the threat of outbreaks of measles, whooping cough and other vaccine-preventable diseases remains high. Given the mobility of Liberia’s population, the danger is that these diseases could spread with the same devastating rapidity that Ebola did.

Malnutrition rates have also increased, and a large proportion of the population is still not using health facilities for fear of contracting Ebola.

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Ebola Upsurge Could Undo Progress in Blink of an Eye, Warns Expert

Sat, 2015-04-04 22:09 — Kathy Gilbeaux

‘Flare-ups occur and, frankly, before you can blink, we could be back to a situation where Ebola starts climbing up again,’ says the UN special envoy for Ebola, David Nabarro. Photograph: Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA

UN special envoy for Ebola sounds cautionary note amid fears that individuals who ignore official advice could cause spike in infection rate

theguardian.com - by Sam Jones - March 26, 2015

Despite the massive push to bring the number of new Ebola cases down to zero as quickly as possible, there will inevitably be “flare-ups” that could reverse the overall downward trend and prove difficult to contain, the UN’s response co-ordinator has warned.

Dr David Nabarro, the UN’s special envoy for Ebola, said the huge medical, administrative and logistical operation to fight the disease could still be set back by individuals ignoring official advice. . . .

. . . “It’s [about] getting the full geographical coverage and linking everyone together with the most excellent data systems so the databases are comparable and we don’t end up with a mess because different people can’t talk to each other,” he explained.

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Tropical Cyclone Pam - Category 5 - Slams Vanuatu

Thu, 2015-04-02 13:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

An Expanding List of Situation Reports and Resources . . .

CLICK HERE - WHO - Cyclone Pam March 2015 - Situation Reports

CLICK HERE - ReliefWeb - Tropical Cyclone Pam - Situation reports

CLICK HERE - UNOCHA - Cyclone Pam Situation Report, No. 1 - March 15, 2015

CLICK HERE - UNOCHA - Emergency Relief Operations Scale Up in Response to Cyclone Pam

CLICK HERE - Red Cross - Vanuatu: Contacts - reports confirm large-scale damage across the island nation

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Vanuatu Risks Long-Term Food Insecurity After Monster Cyclone: U.N.

Wed, 2015-04-01 15:51 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Many families affected by Tropical Cyclone Pam are forced to prepare their meals outdoors as seen here in Vanuatu. Photo: WFP/Victoria Cavanagh

reuters.com - by Alisa Tang - March 30, 2015

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The monster cyclone that hit Vanuatu earlier this month wiped out more than 90 percent of the archipelago's crops, putting its people at risk of a secondary emergency and long-term food insecurity, the United Nations warned on Monday.

Tropical Cyclone Pam destroyed homes, electricity infrastructure and crops when it swept across the South Pacific island nation on March 13, leaving at least 11 dead.

The United Nations issued an appeal last week for $29.9 million to provide an estimated 166,000 affected people with safe drinking water and shelter, but said only $6.4 million had been pledged.

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