Africa

In Ebola fight, private foundations provide critical financial aid

Mon, 2014-11-17 07:53 — mike kraft

Description of the way the CDC Foundation, the Allen Foundation and large donors are playing an important role in countering Ebola.

THE WASHINGTON POST Nov. 17, 2014
By Ariana Eunjung Cha

"...The unpredictable nature of the Ebola virus has made the government’s partnerships with private donors critically important in the crisis response. Working outside the politically charged federal appropriations process and the sometimes sluggish bureaucracy, foundations and private individuals have been able to offer much-needed relief for those on the front lines...."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/in-ebola-fight-private-foundations-provide-critical-financial-aid/2014/11/16/b57ec57e-6109-11e4-9f3a-7e28799e0549_story.html

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U.S. was ill-equipped to handle Ebola rescues, State Dept. contract reveals

Sun, 2014-11-16 23:15 — Kathy Gilbeaux

For now, the world has to rely on a small, Georgia-based flight company for Ebola evacuations. (AP)

Life-saving gear needed to fly sick patients was in storage as epidemic grew

news.yahoo.com - by Jason Sickles - November 11, 2014

The air ambulance operation tasked with rescuing U.S. Ebola victims from West Africa was initially slowed by bureaucratic bungling and is now at risk of being overburdened as thousands of American troops deploy to fight the deadly disease.

Yahoo News has learned the U.S. government spent millions last decade to develop and build two of the world’s only isolation chambers for flying contagious patients — but as the epidemic raged in West Africa this summer and American aid workers there needed evacuating, the medical inventions were packed away in a small-town Georgia warehouse.

The troubling lack of preparedness by federal agencies forced the State Department to put up $4.9 million as part of a rushed contract to employ a commercial aviator to safely evacuate Ebola-infected Americans from West Africa.

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U.S. heightens Ebola screening for travelers from Mali

Sun, 2014-11-16 22:03 — mike kraft

Mali: U.S to begin enhanced screening; France warns its citizens against travel

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REUTERS NOV. 16, 2014

The United States will begin enhanced Ebola screening on Monday for travelers whose trips started in the African nation of Mali, the government said on Sunday.

Mali has been added to the list of countries (Sierra Leone and Liberia) whose travelers face heightened screening because there have been a number of confirmed cases of Ebola there in recent days, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

"A large number of individuals may have been exposed to those cases," it said. There are no direct flights to the United States from Mali, but an average of 15 to 20 travelers a day start their trips there, the statement said.

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/11/16/us-health-ebola-usa-idUKKCN0J010S20141116
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REUTERS Nov. 16, 2014

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China, Russia Send Ebola Facilities To West Africa

Sun, 2014-11-16 18:11 — mike kraft

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY Nov. 16, 2014

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November 16, 2014

Russia and China are providing facilities to treat people suffering from the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa.

The Chinese Embassy in Liberia said on November 16 that 160 Chinese health-care workers have arrived to staff a $41 million Ebola treatment unit in the country hardest-hit in an outbreak that has killed more than 5,100 people this year.

It said many of the doctors, epidemiologists and nurses who will work at the facility previously helped tackle the SARS epidemic in Asia.

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http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-china-ebola-aid-west-africa/26694812.html
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Russia airlifts field hospital

INTERFAX Nov. 16, 2014
http://rbth.com/news/2014/11/16/russia_airlifts_field_hospital_to_guinea_to_fight_ebola_41442.html

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New Ebola Patient in Nebraska in Critical Condition

Sun, 2014-11-16 17:38 — mike kraft

Martin Salia Treated After Being Transported From Sierra Leone

WALL STREET JOURNAL Nov. 16, 2014 ByBetsy McKay and Scott Calvert

A surgeon under treatment for Ebola in Omaha, Neb., is in extremely critical condition, the hospital said early Sunday.

Martin Salia was admitted on Saturday to the Nebraska Medical Center’s biocontainment unit after a medical evacuation from Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Dr. Martin Salia poses for a photo in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in April. Associated Press

“This is an hour-by-hour situation,” said Philip Smith, medical director of the biocontainment unit and a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the hospital’s academic partner. “He is extremely ill. We have multiple highly-trained specialists who are experts in their fields targeting his most serious medical issues.”

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Dr. David Nabarro (UN Special Envoy on Ebola) on Ebola - General Assembly, Informal Meeting, 69th Session (13 November 2014)

Sun, 2014-11-16 15:54 — Kathy Gilbeaux

webtv.un.org

13 Nov 2014 - Statement by Dr. David Nabarro, UN Special Envoy on Ebola at the General Assembly Informal meeting of the plenary briefing on the Ebola virus outbreak.

(CLICK HERE - VIDEO - Statement by Dr. David Nabarro, UN Special Envoy on Ebola)

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The Shifting Ebola Epidemic

Sun, 2014-11-16 15:29 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES Nov. 16, 2014

EDITORIAL

Recent gains in controlling the Ebola epidemic in West Africa have been encouraging, but they offer no reason for complacency. In Liberia, the hardest-hit country, the rate of new infections has declined in some areas, and several treatment units have been reporting empty beds for more than a month. But in adjacent Sierra Leone the number of new cases has shot upward, while in Guinea, where the epidemic started, the incidence of new cases appears to have stabilized over all, with growth in some districts and declines in others. All told, Ebola has infected more than 14,000 people in West Africa and killed more than 5,000 of them...

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U.N. scraps clinic contract as Ebola exposes Mali readiness gaps

Sun, 2014-11-16 14:23 — mike kraft

REUTERS Nov. 16, 2014
By David Lewis

DAKAR - The United Nations mission in Mali has canceled plans to renew a contract with a private clinic providing care to its peacekeepers after a case of Ebola was missed and spread from there.

Children watch as a health worker sprays disinfectant outside a mosque in Bamako, Mali November 14, 2014.Credit: Reuters/Joe Penney

This second Ebola alarm in Mali, coming just as it seemed to have contained its first case last month, raised doubts about the country's ability to protect itself from the epidemic ...

The U.N. mission in Mali, whose peacekeepers are helping to protect the nation against Islamist rebels, reversed on Saturday a decision taken earlier in the week to renew the contract with the Pasteur Clinic in Bamako to care for sick or injured troops.

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Ebola: Democratic Republic of Congo says its outbreak is over

Sat, 2014-11-15 12:20 — mike kraft

BBC Nov. 15, 2014

A three-month Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has ended after claiming at least 49 lives, the country's health minister says.

Health workers are trained in managing Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Felix Kabange said no new cases had been registered since 4 October, though he warned against complacency.

The country's outbreak is unrelated to the one in West Africa which has claimed more than 5,000 lives.

Ebola was first detected in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30068324

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California adopts tough Ebola-protection rules for health workers

Sat, 2014-11-15 11:36 — mike kraft

SFGATE NOV. 14, 2014

By Carolyn Jones

California has adopted some of the nation’s strongest regulations to protect doctors, nurses and other health workers treating patients with Ebola.

The regulations, announced Friday by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, require the state’s 300 or so acute-care hospitals to provide hazardous material suits, respirators, isolation rooms and extensive training to those working with patients suspected of having the Ebola virus.

Nurses hailed the regulations as a model for the rest of the country.

The regulations are more comprehensive than those put forth by the Centers for Disease Control, which the state’s hospitals have been following until now. California has not had any Ebola cases.

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http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/California-adopts-tough-Ebola-protection-rules-5894274.php

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