You are here

Situation Report

World Bank brings Ebola funding to nearly $1 billion

REUTERS                                                                                    Nov. 5, 2014
(WASHINGTON) - The World Bank's private sector arm pledged $450 million on Wednesday to support trade, investment and employment in the three West African countries affected the most by the deadly Ebola outbreak.

The announcement from the bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) brings total World Bank commitments for Ebola to nearly $1 billion in the past three months, an unprecedented rapid response for a development institution that has been accused of dragging its feet on project approval in the past.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, a doctor and anthropologist, said 

"The fear swirling around Ebola has the potential to do long-term harm to businesses globally, and especially in the Ebola-affected countries," Kim said in a statement. "IFC .. will find ways to help boost trade and investment in West Africa, which will be essential to ensure that private companies continue to operate and sustain employment under difficult circumstances."

Read complete story

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Ebola outbreak: UK centre opening in Sierra Leone

BBC                                             Nov. 5, 2014
By Clive Myrie

FREETOWN --A British-run facility to treat people with Ebola is opening in Sierra Leone.

 

The facility offers 92 beds, with an additional 600 expected to be provided by five further centres

The 92-bed site in Kerry Town will be run jointly by the Department for International Development (DfID) and charity Save the Children.

The centre is the first of six which are being constructed by the British government as part of the effort to stop the spread of the disease.

The UK's Disasters Emergency Committee says it has raised £13m for tackling Ebola, a week after its appeal launch. The DEC, which is made up of 13 British aid charities, is helping to run treatment facilities and care centres.

Meanwhile in the UK, Manchester Airport has begun screening passengers arriving from the worst-affected countries.

Read complete story

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29911551

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

DoD: Ebola mission won't be scaled back

 

Air Force personnel helped with the construction of the Monrovia Medical Unit (MMU) in Monrovia, Liberia. (Maj. Adrien Adams / AFRICOM)

MILITARY TIMES                                                                         Nov. 4, 2014 

By Patricia Kime

The Pentagon has no plans to scale back its response to the Ebola outbreak, Defense Department spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said Tuesday.

The rate of new Ebola infections in Liberia has dropped sharply in the past several weeks, according to the World Health Organization, prompting questions as to whether the U.S. military needs to follow through on plans to build 17 medical treatment facilities in that country.

But despite the decline in cases, Kirby told reporters in a Pentagon news conference that DoD will proceed to build the 100-bed facilities unless told otherwise.

Kirby said the recent decline in the number of cases is “promising, but no one is taking that for granted. The history of the disease is the numbers fluctuate.”

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Spanish Nurse Who Beat Ebola to Be Discharged

UPDATE: Spanish nurse's press conference after her release

BBC                                                                                         Nov. 5, 2014

Ms Romero recovered after being given a variety of treatments including blood plasma from survivor Paciencia Melgar.

An antiviral drug was also given to Ms Romero but the hospital was unable to say which method had been successful.

Read complete story

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29913739

-0-   Earlier story 

ASSOCIATED PRESS                                 NOV. 4, 2014
MADRID --A Spanish nursing assistant who recovered from Ebola is to be discharged from a Madrid hospital a month after she was admitted with the virus.

 

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

How much countries have donated to the Ebola fight, in one chart


                                                    (Chart by Joss Fong/Vox with data from the One Foundation)

Every day... it seems there is news of a new country or organization pledging money to the Ebola fight. But it's difficult to know whether these promises vanish into thin air or lead to real action on the ground.

Read full story
http://www.vox.com/2014/11/3/7150149/chart-how-much-countries-have-actually-given-to-the-ebola-virus-outbreak

General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

West Africa Short 75 Percent of Needed Beds for Ebola

BLOOMBERG  NEWS                                  Nov. 4, 2014
By Jason Gale and Makiko Kitamura

The countries most affected by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa are still lacking about three-fourths of the treatment beds needed for patients, the World Health Organizationsaid.

As many as 4,388 beds are required in 50 Ebola treatment units across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and there are now 1,126 beds, about 25 percent of the necessary capacity, Fadela Chaib, a WHO spokeswoman, told reporters in Geneva today. Twelve of 28 laboratories needed are operational, and 20 more foreign medical teams are needed to staff existing treatment centers, she said.

While empty beds exist at some treatment centers in Liberia, it’s important to maintain overcapacity as new cases can appear anywhere across the country, Bruce Aylward, the WHO’s assistant-general in charge of Ebola responses, said last week. International responders to the crisis have a Dec. 1 target to isolate 70 percent of cases and bury 70 percent of dead bodies safely.

General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Journey to the center of an epidemic

A Pulitzer winning science writer's saga of flying to the Ebola zones of Liberia
 
FOREIGN POLICY                                  Nov. 3, 014
By Laura Garrett

MONROVIA, Liberia — The journey to Liberia tests the mettle of any American wanting to help the nation in its Ebola crisis. The trek really begins with fears about how the Samaritan will be received once he or she returns from the epidemic, facing quarantines and stigma. And the first leg lands the traveler in a political and cultural climate in steamy West Africa marked by resilience in the face of genuine threat.

General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Fresh Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone raises fears of new infection chain

THE GUARDIAN                                    Nov. 4, 2014
By Lisa  O'Carroll

A fresh outbreak of Ebola in a part of Sierra Leone where the virus was thought to have been contained has raised fears of a new, uncontrolled infection chain that could send the death toll soaring.

A Red Cross ambulance team was sent to the remote district of Koinadugu, which had prided itself on being the only area to have kept Ebola at bay, on Tuesday to urgently collect 30 corpses for medical burial.

A family home under quarantine in the Port Loko district of Sierra Leone, where the Ebola outbreak is widespread. Photograph: Michael Duff/AP

The outbreak is a major setback for the Ebola response force and the district, which two weeks ago remained resolved to control the spread of the virus that has officially infected 5,338 people and claimed 1,510 lives in the country.

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Canada contributes more money, but no medical workers in Ebola fight

TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL                               Nov. 3, 2014
By Kelly Grant
Canada is spending another $30.5-million to fight Ebola, but Ottawa is still not answering pleas from international aid organizations for medical personnel to care for the ill in West Africa.

The bulk of the money announced on Monday – $23.5-million – will be spent on testing a Canadian vaccine and an experimental therapy, ZMapp, both of which were developed largely at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg....

A lab technician at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, Manitoba November 3, 2014.
(LYLE STAFFORD/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Canada has so far dispatched two mobile laboratories with rotating teams of scientists to rapidly diagnose or rule out Ebola in Sierra Leone.

But Ottawa has been reluctant to send medical staff to West Africa because the government cannot guarantee they could be airlifted out if they fall ill.

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Ebola: Abbott government relents, will send Australian volunteers to treat victims

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD                       Nov. 4, 2014
By Peter Hartcher

SYDNEY, Australia--The Abbott government is set to announce that it will assist several hundred Australian expert volunteers travel to one of the Ebola hotspots of Africa to help control the epidemic.

Australian Prime Minister ABBOTT. The government has struck an agreement to manage a British field hospital in Sierra Leone, according to diplomatic sources. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

An official announcement is expected on Wednesday.

It is the first hands-on help that the government has agreed to give. To now, it has resisted sending personnel and given financial aid only.

The government agreed to contribute to the international effort to halt the epidemic at source only after making evacuation plans for any Australian volunteer who might become infected. Britain has agreed to treat Australian volunteers as if they were their own, officials said.

Any infected Australian worker would be evacuated to Britain for treatment. There is also provision for access to treatment in Germany under a British arrangement.

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Pages

Subscribe to Situation Report
howdy folks
Page loaded in 1.311 seconds.