Ebola News 1/26

[Buster's Uncle]

Senegal reopens land border with Ebola-hit Guinea
Reuters  13 minutes ago



A health worker with disinfectant spray walks down a street outside the government hospital in Kenema, July 10, 2014. REUTERS/Tommy Trenchard



DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegal reopened on Monday its land border with Guinea, the Interior Ministry said, five months after closing transport links in August to prevent the spread of the worst outbreak on record of the deadly Ebola virus.

Senegal had already lifted in November a ban on air and maritime traffic with Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - the three countries worst-affected by the epidemic of the deadly hemorrhagic fever.

In recent weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said the outbreak in West Africa appears to be ebbing as the rate of new infections has declined. In the week to Jan. 18 there were 20 new cases in Guinea, versus 45 the week before, WHO data showed.

"The decision to open the border follows meetings between Senegalese and Guinean authorities, in the course of which the important efforts made by the sister republic of Guinea to fight the Ebola virus were noted," said a ministry statement.

Senegal itself recorded a single case of Ebola, a student who crossed the border from Guinea, but a wider outbreak was prevented. Senegal was declared Ebola-free on Oct. 17 but said it would enforce measures to avoid any propagation of the disease.

Experts have warned against border closures and travel restrictions as a means of containing the virus.

In the past year, 21,724 Ebola cases have been reported in nine countries and 8,641 people have died, most of them in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, according to the WHO.


http://news.yahoo.com/senegal-reopens-land-border-ebola-hit-guinea-141351141.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Senegal opens Guinea border as Ebola recedes
AFP  4 hours ago



Vehicles are loaded with household items on September 3, 2014, at the border town of Diaobe in Senegal's southern border region of Kolda as they ready to drive across into neighbouring Guinea (AFP Photo/Seyllou)



Dakar (AFP) - Senegal reopened its land border with Guinea on Monday, pointing to the "significant efforts" of its neighbour in fighting an Ebola outbreak that has claimed thousands of lives.

People and goods can now "move freely by land between the two countries," the interior ministry said in a statement cited by the state-run Senegalese Press Agency.

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have been devastated by the outbreak, which began in December 2013, but all have seen recent signs that the virus is retreating, with the number of new cases dropping weekly.

Senegal said it would put in place measures at its land crossings to ensure people entering from Guinea were Ebola-free, the report said.

The news was met with applause in the Guinean capital Conakry, according to an AFP correspondent on the street, with car horns sounding and pedestrians chanting as local radio announced the reopening.

"This is an important and good piece of news that we have just learned today ... Praise God," said shopkeeper Mariama Barry.

"See my shop. It is half empty -- or, if you prefer, half full -- because of this closure that almost ended up choking us."

El-Hajj Abdoulaye Biro Diallo, an owner of two clothing shops who imports from Dakar, described his relief, saying the closure had hit traders who couldn't afford to source clothing from farther afield.

At the international bus station in Conakry, drivers quickly resumed service to Diawbhe in Senegal, while union officials confirmed taxis would begin ferrying passengers to Dakar the following day.

Senegal initially closed its land border with Guinea in March last year as the number of people infected with the deadly disease escalated at an alarming rate.

The order affected crossings in southern Senegal which were heavily used by traders, particularly during a weekly market attended by thousands from neighbouring countries.

The border reopened in May but was closed again in August after an infected student crossed over from Guinea.

Senegal was declared Ebola-free after the student recovered without spreading the virus, and air as well as sea crossings from the three other nations have been permitted since November.

The worst-ever outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever has officially killed nearly 9,000 in a year, although experts believe the real toll could be significantly higher.


http://news.yahoo.com/senegal-opens-guinea-border-ebola-recedes-145653712.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Liberia: Only 5 people being treated for Ebola in country
Associated Press
By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH  6 hours ago



Axel Addy, Minister for Industry and Commerce of Liberia, speaks to the media about the impact of Ebola in his country during a news conference, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Keystone,Salvatore Di Nolfi)



MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberia said Monday that there are currently only five confirmed cases of Ebola in the entire country — a dramatic turnaround in the West African nation where the virus has taken its deadliest toll.

At the height of the outbreak in August and September, Liberia was recording more than 300 new cases of the virus every week. To date 3,636 Liberians have died of Ebola, according to the World Health Organization.

But the outbreak has begun to wane. Now there are now just five people in the country being treated for Ebola, Tolbert Nyenswah, who heads the country's Ebola response, said Monday.

In her state of the nation address Monday, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said that, at the height of the outbreak, Liberia was the "poster child of disaster."

"Our hospitals and clinics as well as our schools closed down. People ran away from their families and homes. Our economy was on the verge of collapse," she told lawmakers, adding that the initial response from Liberia and the international community was weak.

"I can say today that despite all of this that our nation has remained strong, our people resilient," said Sirleaf.



Axel Addy, Minister for Industry and Commerce of Liberia, speaks to the media about the impact of Ebola in his country during a news conference, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Keystone,Salvatore Di Nolfi)


Sierra Leone and Guinea — also hammered by the disease — have also seen a dramatic reduction in cases, but they are reporting more new infections than Liberia.

Still, Nyenswah cautioned it is too early to say when Liberia will be Ebola-free because authorities must still track down every infected person. Just one missed infection could seed a new cluster.

In all, Ebola has sickened more than 21,000 people, the vast majority in West Africa, killing more than 8,600.

In another sign that the disease is fading, Senegal on Monday reopened its land border with Guinea, which has been closed since August.

___

Associated Press writer Babacar Dione in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/liberia-only-5-people-being-treated-ebola-country-154619105.html

[Buster's Uncle]

WHO pledges reforms as it admits Ebola mistakes
AFP
By Abhik Chanda  January 25, 2015 6:27 PM



A health worker wearing protective equipment gives to drink to an Ebola patient at the Kenama treatment center on November 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Francisco Leong)



Geneva (AFP) - The World Health Organization's chief on Sunday admitted the UN agency had been caught napping on Ebola and pledged reforms to avoid similar mistakes in future.

Despite turning a corner in the fight against Ebola, there was no room for complacency, WHO head Margaret Chan told a rare emergency session of the agency.

Chan acknowledged blistering criticism that WHO's response to the epidemic had been slow and shoddy and called for a revamp of its crisis management techniques.

"This was west Africa's first experience with the virus and it delivered some horrific shocks and surprises," she said.

"The world, including WHO, was too slow to see what was unfolding before us," she told delegates at only the third emergency session in the history of the WHO.

"The data tell us we have bent the curve and avoided the worst-case scenario," she said.

"Ebola is a tragedy that has taught the world, including WHO, many lessons also about how to prevent similar events in the future," she said.

"Never again should the world be caught by surprise, unprepared."

Chan also told AFP that "the priority in 2015 is to help countries get the Ebola rate down to zero."


- $100-mln contingency fund -


Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization, has her temperature measured during a visit to an Ebola medical unit on December 19, 2014, in the Liberian capital Monrovia (AFP Photo/Evan Schneider)


A resolution adopted at the end of the session called for the creation of a war chest to fight future epidemics with Britain immediately pledging $10 million (nine million euros).

Chan said the overall aim was to create a contingency fund of $100 million, which would be "a good starting point".

Other measures agreed upon included faster recruitment and deployment of frontline workers in future emergencies, the development of "quality, safe, effective and affordable vaccines and treatments", and streamlining and strengthening the WHO's response with the naming of a WHO special representative to coordinate and oversee the Ebola fight.

The worst outbreak of the virus in history has seen nearly 9,000 deaths in a year -- almost all in the three west African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone -- and sparked a major health scare worldwide.

"Countries must be supported to have their own workforce for responding to emergencies, trained and drilled to perform with military precision," Chan said.


- Criticism -

David Nabarro, the UN's Ebola coordinator, said "responses must be strategic, strong and speedy" in the future, acknowledging "weaknesses" in the global action against the epidemic.

But he noted a string of generous contributions in funds, expertise and help in building up the creaky health infrastructure of the worst-hit countries, singling out Britain, China, France, the United States as well as the African Union and the west African regional bloc ECOWAS.

The WHO still came in for criticism from delegates at the conference.

"Too many times the technical is overruled by the political in WHO, we have to revise that," said Tom Frieden, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The WHO we have is not the WHO we need," he said.

The conference also heard from Sierra Leonean nurse Rebecca Johnson, who survived the disease after a four-week treatment in December.

Johnson said she could not walk or talk and nearly went blind.

"But I have recovered my sight," she said.

Despite her recovery, Johnson said she was "stigmatised and am still stigmatised by some people in my community."

"I sometimes go to a (lonely) place and cry," she said, but ended her speech with a message of hope.

"Ebola is not the end of the world. Ebola can be beaten."


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-mistakes-serve-lesson-says-184637150.html

[Buster's Uncle]

British nurse makes full recovery from Ebola
Reuters  January 25, 2015 2:48 AM



A convoy carrying a female Ebola patient arrives at the Royal Free Hospital in London December 30, 2014. REUTERS/Neil Hall



LONDON (Reuters) - A British nurse who had been critically ill with Ebola after working in Sierra Leone has been discharged from a London hospital after making a full recovery.

Pauline Cafferkey was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in north London on Dec. 30 after falling ill on her return from Sierra Leone, where she had been working for the charity Save the Children at a treatment centre outside the capital, Freetown.

Cafferkey was the first person to have been diagnosed with Ebola on British soil.

"I am just happy to be alive," she said in a statement released via the hospital. "I still don’t feel 100 percent, I feel quite weak, but I'm looking forward to going home. I want to say a big thank you to the staff who treated me - they were amazing."

The Royal Free, Britain's main centre for Ebola cases, also successfully treated British aid worker William Pooley who contracted the virus in West Africa.


http://news.yahoo.com/british-nurse-makes-full-recovery-ebola-074809199.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Single new case can reignite Ebola outbreak if vigilance lost, says MSF
Reuters  5 hours ago



Protective suits are left to dry after an Ebola training session held by Spain's Red Cross in Madrid October 29, 2014. REUTERS/Susana Vera



LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A decline in Ebola cases in West Africa must not result in a loss of vigilance because a single new case is enough to reignite an outbreak, international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Monday.

The downward trend of new cases in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone should be used as an opportunity to focus efforts on addressing weaknesses in the response, otherwise progress made in stemming the deadly virus would be jeopardized, it said.

"We are on the right track, but reaching zero cases will be difficult unless significant improvements are made in alerting new cases and tracing those who have been in contact with them," Brice de la Vingne, MSF head of operations, said in a statement.

"A single new case is enough to reignite an outbreak."

In the past week fewer than 150 cases of disease were reported, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Sierra Leone remains hardest-hit, accounting for 117 of the 145 new confirmed cases, against 184 there the previous week and 248 the week before that, the WHO said on Thursday.

MSF said that there was almost no information sharing between the three worst-affected countries about tracing people who might have been in contact with Ebola patients.

"With people moving frequently across borders, it is essential that the surveillance teams based in each country collaborate immediately so that new cases are not imported into areas considered Ebola-free," said de la Vingne.

MSF said that there were now just over 50 patients in its Ebola management centers across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

It said although cases were decreasing, hot spots persisted, for example in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown.

On Sunday WHO said it would create a contingency fund and an emergency workforce to respond quickly to crises after criticism of the agency's response to the Ebola epidemic.

(Reporting By Magdalena Mis; Editing by Ros Russell)


http://news.yahoo.com/single-case-reignite-ebola-outbreak-vigilance-lost-says-183600342.html

[Buster's Uncle]

After Ebola, WHO to set up contingency fund, develop "surge capacity"
Reuters
By Stephanie Nebehay  12 hours ago



A health worker checks the temperature of a man arriving at Bata Airport, January 14, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh



GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday it will create a contingency fund and an emergency workforce to respond quickly to crises after strong criticism of the agency's delay in confronting the Ebola epidemic.

Director-general Dr. Margaret Chan said at an emergency meeting called to discuss the agency's Ebola response that the outbreak showed the need to strengthen WHO's crisis management and to streamline procedures for recruiting frontline workers.

Ebola has been "a mega crisis and it overwhelmed the capacity of WHO", she told a news briefing. "Member states truly understand that the world does need a collective defence mechanism for global health security."

In the past year, 21,724 Ebola cases have been reported in nine countries and 8,641 people have died, according to the WHO, which says West Africa's outbreak is ebbing. [ID:nL6N0V118R]

A resolution seeking major reforms, brought by the United States and South Africa, was adopted by consensus at the meeting of the 34-member executive board.

"The WHO we have is not the WHO we need, not the WHO we needed to respond to health emergencies of the magnitude of Ebola," Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), told the talks.

In the debate, he said that political considerations often overruled technical expertise at the United Nations agency.

"We have given some structure to what we expect in May, which is far-reaching reforms," said Frieden, referring to the WHO's annual meeting of health ministers in May.

Major donors welcomed agreement on the emergency fund, which a WHO committee had recommended in 2011 should contain $100 million after the 2009-2010 influenza pandemic. Chan told reporters that the figure was "a good starting point".

Bruce Aylward, WHO assistant director-general in charge of the Ebola response, said the agency would need about a workforce of about 1,500 for such emergencies, up from 1,000 currently.

"What you see here is the potential for some of the most wide-ranging and sweeping reforms in any area of WHO that we've seen almost since the organisation was established," he said.

Dr. Dirk Cuypers of Belgium's health service said on behalf of the European Union: "We need to ensure that a clear line of command for all levels of the organisation is in place for emergency operations and we need a global work force ready to be deployed in a effective and timely manner."

Ebola cases are declining in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Chan said. "But we must maintain the momentum and guard against complacency and donor fatigue."

(Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Stephen Powell and Michael Urquhart)


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-set-contingency-fund-develop-surge-capacity-120019961.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Post-Ebola plan needed to avert 'double disaster' in West Africa: Oxfam
Reuters
By Magdalena Mis  1 hour ago



LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The three West African countries worst hit by Ebola risk a "double disaster" unless a multi-million dollar plan is put in place to help their economies recover, Oxfam said on Tuesday.

In Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone people were struggling to make ends meet having seen their incomes plummet, the aid agency said.

"The world was late in waking up to the Ebola crisis, there can be no excuses for not helping to put these economies and lives back together," Mark Goldring, Oxfam's chief executive, said during a visit to Liberia.

He said a post-Ebola "Marshall Plan" should address three areas of urgent need: cash for families affected by the crisis, investment in jobs and support for basic services.

"People need cash in their hands now, they need good jobs to feed their families in the near future and decent health, education and other essential services," Goldring said.

Research by Oxfam in three Liberian counties found that three in four families had seen their incomes decline, with an average income drop of 39 percent.

Coupled with a loss of income, food prices in Ebola-affected areas have risen. In Liberia, rice prices were 40 percent above the seasonal average.

As a result, some adults said they were cutting back on food in order to feed their children. Oxfam said that 60 percent of people interviewed told them they had not had enough food in the past seven days.

Liberia and Sierra Leone were two of the fastest growing economies in Africa before the Ebola crisis, but in both countries more than half of the population lived below the poverty line.

According to World Bank, since the outbreak of the disease nearly 180,000 people have lost their jobs in Sierra Leone, and half of household heads in Liberia were out of work.

"Failure to help these countries after surviving Ebola will condemn them to a double-disaster," Goldring said.

The Ebola outbreak has claimed more than 8,600 lives since it was detected in Guinea in March, the World Health Organization said last week. It said West Africa's outbreak is ebbing.

In the countries directly affected, the virus will result in at least $1.6 billion in lost economic growth this year or over 12 percent of their combined GDPs, according to the World Bank.

Oxfam called for an international pledging conference to discuss recovery plans backed by financial support to help rebuild lives and help crisis-affected economies recover.

(Reporting By Magdalena Mis; Editing by Ros Russell)


http://news.yahoo.com/post-ebola-plan-needed-avert-double-disaster-west-000352636.html