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Ebola Hampering Household Economies across Liberia and Sierra Leone

Latest surveys point to declines in employment, food insecurity, and long-term welfare concerns

THE WORLD BANK                                                       Jan. 12, 2015

WASHINGTON-- The socio-economic impacts of Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone are far-reaching and persistent, according to two new World Bank Group reports. Both countries continue to experience job losses, despite their differing health outlooks. These impacts have not been limited to the areas where infections have been the highest, which points to economy-wide slowdowns. As a result, many households have been forced to take short-term actions to cope, which can have substantial long-term effects on welfare.

The Ebola virus itself must be eradicated- this is the number one priority,” said Ana Revenga, Senior Director for Poverty at the World Bank Group. “But its socio-economic side effects put the current and future prosperity of households in Liberia and Sierra Leone at high risk. We must pay careful attention to those who are most vulnerable to both health and economic shocks, and ensure that they are supported throughout and after the crisis.

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Ebola takes mental health toll where 'life has frozen' in Sierra Leone

THE GUARDIAN   by Lisa O'Carroll                            Jan, 12, 2015

Ebola is causing mental health problems in Sierra Leone, with the country’s overstretched health system unable to deal with the psychosocial legacy of the outbreak, according to a report by the International Medical Corps (pdf).

Children at an MSF Ebola treatment centre in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, with a psychologist, who looks after family members, patients and staff dealing with stigmatisation and death. Photograph: Joffrey Monnier/MSF

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In Africa, a Decline in New Ebola Cases Complicates Vaccine Development

NEW YORK TIMES      by Andrew Pollack                                                           Jan. 9, 2015

As authorities and drug companies hurriedly prepare to begin testing Ebola vaccines in West Africa, they are starting to contemplate a new challenge: whether an ebbing of the outbreak could make it more difficult to determine if the experimental vaccines are effective.

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Sierra Leone: How Kailahun district kicked Ebola out

WHO and medical staff at the Ebola management site in Kailahun District, Sierra Leone
WHO/J. Caminade

Kailahun district in eastern Sierra Leone was one of the country’s first hotspots in the Ebola outbreak, at its peak reporting more than 80 new cases per week in late June 2014. With the assistance of WHO and partners, combined with the close involvement of community leaders, the district has managed to beat the disease and has reported no new cases for several weeks. There is no room for complacency however. Community teams and health workers are on high alert and are ready to react quickly to any possible new infection.

who.int - December 2014

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Ending Ebola in '15 Depends on Locals as Much as Foreign Aid

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS By MARIA CHENG and CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY                   Jan 9, 2015

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone --

...Whether the world's worst-ever Ebola outbreak can be wiped out in West Africa in 2015 is uncertain. To a large extent, it depends as much on locals changing their practices and beliefs as it does on continued international assistance.

 One of the biggest problems is finding all contacts of confirmed cases. Teams are in place in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three worst-hit countries, to monitor suspect cases, but too little is known about where the virus is spreading. Typically, every confirmed Ebola case has about 12 to 20 possible contacts who must be monitored. In Sierra Leone, the epicenter of the current crisis, officials are reporting just eight, leading to suspicions that contact tracing is inadequate....

 Among concrete progress since the crisis gained international attention last summer, a major initiative led by the U.N. has been put into place, including:

Read complete story.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ending-ebola-15-depends-locals-foreign-aid-28121449?singlePage=true

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Ebola outbreak: Quarantine 'just like a jail' in Sierra Leone

Door-to-door community campaigns seen as key to educating Freetown residents

CBC NEWS               by Carolyn Dunn                                                                           Jan. 6, 2015                    

FREETOWN --For 18 days, Alieru Deen Bangura’s family has been quarantined in a slum in Sierra Leone's capital of Freetown.

As part of the West African city's efforts to stem the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, the family lives under the watchful eye of armed guards 24 hours a day.   

Members of the Bangura family are quarantined after a family member died of Ebola. Seventeen families are living under armed guard behind a rope cordoning them off from their community. (Carolyn Dunn/CBC News )

Seventeen families are cordoned off with a thin, orange, plastic rope, a constant reminder that they are not free to go about their daily business.

“I would say it’s just like a jail for someone to be sitting down the whole day,” Bangura says.

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Ebola’s legacy: After the passing

The virus will have a long-lasting impact on already poor countries

THE ECONOMIST                                                                                                      Jan. 3, 2015
When Ebola was at its worst in west Africa a few months ago, many worried that weak governments in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone might be swept away by riots or the collapse of order as the virus took hold. In fact, the opposite appears to be the case. Governments have tightened their grip and are displaying authoritarian inclinations in ways rarely seen in the three young democracies....

The disease, meanwhile, continues to spread. In the week to December 21st, Guinea experienced its highest incidence of the virus since the outbreak began (see chart). In Liberia dozens of new cases have been reported along the border with Sierra Leone.

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Ebola wipes out every mother in Liberian village

In Joeblow, Liberia, every mother has been killed by Ebola leaving a village full of confused and devastated children

THE TELEGRAPH by  Sarah Knapton                          Jan, 5, 2015
JOEBLOW, LIBERIA --

For 11-year-old Montgomery Philip, childhood is over. Six months ago he would have been playing football with his schoolmates, but now his job is to care for his 10-monthold baby brother Jenkie. The pair are both victims of the Ebola virus. Not because they caught the disease, but because they live in Joeblow, Liberia, where the devastating outbreak has killed every mother in the village.

                              Chloe Brett has been working to find homes for children left behind in the aftermath of the outbreak

The women died because social convention decrees it is they who tend to the sick and bury the dead.

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Could a pregnant woman change the way we think about Ebola?

THE WASHINGTON POST by Kevin Sieff                          Jan. 5, 2015

PORT LOKO, Sierra Leone — When Fatmata Kabia walked into the Ebola isolation center, her chances of survival were almost zero.

Not because her symptoms were particularly bad — though they were. Not because the disease had already killed most of her family — though it had. Kabia, 21, appeared doomed for another reason: She was pregnant.

Meratu Koroma, 18, four months pregnant, battles intense pain while waiting for an Ebola test in Port Loko, Sierra Leone. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

Few diseases are less understood than the Ebola virus, which has claimed more than 7,900 lives across West Africa. But one thing is clear: Pregnant Ebola patients rarely survive. And their babies never do.

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David Attenborough: Leaders are in denial about climate change

David Attenborough

Image: David Attenborough

independent.co.uk - January 1st 2015 - Tom Bawden

Sir David Attenborough is calling on global leaders to step-up their actions to curb climate change, saying that they are in denial about the dangers it poses despite the overwhelming evidence about its risks.

The TV naturalist said those who wield power need to use it: “Wherever you look there are huge risks. The awful thing is that people in authority and power deny that, when the evidence is overwhelming and they deny it because it’s easier to deny it – much easier to deny it’s a problem and say ‘we don’t care’,” Sir David said.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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