Conakry

Bulk of promised global aid has yet to materialize on the ground

 The Associated Press Posted: Sep 28,  Updated: Sep 28, 2014 1:10 PM ET

  Doctors are in short supply. So are beds for patients. Six months after the Ebola outbreak emerged for the first time in an unprepared West Africa and eventually became the worst-ever outbreak, the gap between what has been sent by other countries and private groups and what is needed is huge.

Even as countries try to marshal more resources, those needs threaten to become much greater, and possibly even insurmountable....

Beds are filling up as fast as clinics can be built. Ambulance sirens blare through standstill traffic. Often, there is nowhere to take the sick except to "holding centres" where they await a bed at an Ebola treatment facility.

The virus has killed almost 3,000 people and infected more than 6,200 in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal.

uschamberfoundation.org

Event: Corporate Citizenship Center - Ebola Outbreak Coordination Conference Call
Friday, September 26, 2014 - 2:00pm

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center (CCC) hosted a conference call on Friday, September 26 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Over the past six months, an Ebola outbreak has affected five countries in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone).  The current outbreak is unprecedented in scale and geographical reach: the present West Africa outbreak has a higher caseload than all other previous Ebola crises combined.  Worse yet, the United Nations reports that the outbreak continues to accelerate, with almost 40% of the total cases occurring in the past 21 days.

CCC’s Ebola coordination conference call will provide updated information on the humanitarian response and the efforts to contain the disease.  It will also detail ways that the business community can help.

CLICK HERE - Listen to the Call Archive

NEW YORK TIMES      September 26, 2014

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

 .... The C.D.C. has issued a Watch Level 3 warning (“avoid nonessential travel”) for Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and a Level 2 warning (“practice enhanced precautions”) for Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tourists should not visit these areas. The C.D.C. has recommended that foreign exchange, research and other education-related travel be postponed until further notice. Although the situation can change rapidly, there is now no risk of contracting Ebola in countries in West Africa without reported cases.

Anyone in the affected countries who gets a fever and symptoms like headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain or unexplained bleeding or bruising should avoid all contact with others and travel immediately by private transportation to a doctor’s office or hospital.