Liberia

Ebola’s legacy: After the passing

Tue, 2015-01-06 09:29 — mike kraft

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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Liberia close to beating Ebola as cases dwindle

Mon, 2015-01-05 19:18 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Lisa O'Caroll Jan. 5, 2015

Liberia appears close to beating Ebola, with plans to reopen schools next month after the latest figures showed the infection rate has dwindled to just over four cases a day.

Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, announced that schools would reopen on 2 February. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

The US also plans to withdraw about half its 2,400 troops six months after the virus struck, claiming 3,400 lives.

Optimism has been increased by figures issued by the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (Unmeer). They show the country had no confirmed Ebola cases on 31 December and just 91 cases in the past 21 days.

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Ebola wipes out every mother in Liberian village

Mon, 2015-01-05 11:44 — mike kraft

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?

Mon, 2015-01-05 11:14 — mike kraft

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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Ebola survivors in west Africa to share stories via mobile app

Sun, 2015-01-04 17:56 — mike kraft

REUTERS Jan. 4, 2015

Ebola survivors in the three west African countries worst hit by the epidemic will share their stories through a mobile application to be launched on Monday, in a Unicef-backed campaign to inform and fight stigma around the disease.

...Although many people have survived the disease, they still face rejection and stigma from their communities, while the virus continues to spread due to lack of information and denial, according to the WHO and other health organisations.

The campaign, called #ISurvivedEbola, is funded by US philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft Paul G Allen’s foundation which has committed $100m to fight the disease. Unicef, the UN children’s agency is collaborating in the project.

Survivors in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia will be given smartphones and will document their stories and exchange tips on how to cope with it for a mobile app which will be available to the public, the backers said in a statement.

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Victory against Ebola 'within our reach': new UN mission chief

Sun, 2015-01-04 14:31 — mike kraft

AFP Jan 4, 2015

ACCRA -- Ending the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history is a difficult task, but it is "within our reach", the UN's new mission chief on the disease said, warning that the world has no choice but to beat back the infection.

"This is a global crisis. We definitely have a difficult time ahead of us, but we can achieve it," Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the new head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), said on arrival in Ghana on Saturday.

"We have no plan B, we have to get rid of this virus. This is within our reach, but we should not be complacent," said Ahmed, a Mauritanian, who had arrived in Accra to officially assume duty, taking over from American Anthony Banbury...

Ahmed will be visiting Liberia and Sierra Leone this week, and Guinea shortly after, "to reinforce UNMEER's strategic priorities and see first-hand the Ebola response." the text said. He will be accompanied by UN Special Envoy on Ebola, David Nabarro, it added.
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http://news.yahoo.com/victory-against-ebola-within-reach-un-mission-chief-075544472.html;_ylt=AwrBEiEmk6lU7hgAFk3QtDMD

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Sen. Coons calls for change in U.S. Ebola strategy

Sun, 2015-01-04 14:18 — mike kraft

CBS NEWS Jan. 4, 2015

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, who recently returned from a trip to Liberia, said Sunday that the Pentagon should avoid prematurely withdrawing U.S. military personnel who are fighting the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

"We can't declare mission accomplished and withdraw too early here," Coons said on "Face the Nation" Sunday. "The raging epidemic that threatened the whole country in September is now down to a few embers scattered across this country but we need a new strategy to adapt to conditions on the ground. Our troops should remain, some of them to the rest of the year, to help make sure that Liberians can transition our emergency Ebola treatment units into community health clinics and transition our high tech military mobile testing labs into Liberian-run local labs so that going forward this epidemic is really brought to an end in Liberia."

Coons said about 1,000 or more of the troops could return home because they have finished their primary missions of building the infrastructure to test for Ebola. But the money that the U.S. continues to spend on the epidemic could be spent more wisely with a change in strategy, he said

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TDR - Supplement on Integrated Community Case Management in Africa

Sat, 2015-01-03 22:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

who.int - November 26, 2014

The Journal of Global Health has published a special supplement highlighting the latest evidence on integrated community case management (iCCM) for childhood illnesses. It lists implementation approaches that have and have not worked in various settings, along with recommendations for future programming, given the current context of innovation and funding opportunities.

Entitled “Current scientific evidence and future directions for Integrated Community Case Management in Africa,” the in-depth supplement synthesizes the latest available evidence around eight thematic areas of iCCM programming:

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Story Behind the Story: How Times Reporters Unraveled the Ebola Epidemic

Sat, 2015-01-03 21:03 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES Jan. 2, 2015

Celia W. Dugger, deputy science editor for health, has helped to coordinate the Times’s coverage of Ebola. She edited a feature published Tuesday on the origin of this year’s Ebola outbreak, and shares how the story came together after months of reporting.

As the Ebola epidemic gained velocity this fall, spreading fear and death across one of the world’s poorest regions, I kept coming back to the same questions: How did this one get away? How did the experts — and the media, including editors like me, for that matter — miss the signs in the spring that this time would be catastrophically different from the nearly two dozen prior outbreaks? Why did the most seasoned Ebola hands — men and women who had repeatedly risked their lives battling this lethal foe — let their guard down and scale back in May just when the virus might have been throttled?

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IFRC: Fear Hampering Ebola Fight

Fri, 2015-01-02 19:59 — mike kraft

THE VOICE OF AMERICA by Joe DeCapua Jan. 2, 2014

...The Red Cross’ Katherine Mueller gives an assessment of the Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“The Ebola outbreak is not under control yet. We do see some leveling off of cases for Liberia, for example. However, we’ve seen it before that somebody attends a funeral. They come back. They’re infected. They infect their village and cases spike. So it really doesn’t take much to have another increase in cases,” she said.

Mueller is the IFRC’s Africa communications manager. She worries that people may become complacent after hearing that the number of new cases has slowed in some places...

Part of the organization’s efforts include going to remote areas in the three hardest hit countries.

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