United Nations

4 Myths About Ebola Recovery in West Africa

Tue, 2015-04-14 18:12 — mike kraft

GLOBAL HEALTH NOW Commentary by Michael Murphy and Alan Ricks April 14, 2015
The aftermath of the world’s worst Ebola outbreak in history provides an important opportunity to reflect on the response; but most importantly, to acknowledge we have much more to do...our great fear is that the international community will declare Ebola’s containment a victory and move on, without addressing the reasons the outbreak was so devastating in the first place. The crisis is the canary in the mine, indicating a broader problem that long existed.

An unfortunate reality that plagues development assistance worldwide is what we call “short-termism.” It’s the tendency to mobilize health infrastructure resources only in crises. This is a reactive and costly strategy that prioritizes temporary stabilization without considerations for long-term security....

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Read more about 4 Myths About Ebola Recovery in West Africa
Log in or register to post comments

WHO: Ebola survivors at risk of eye and joint problems

Sat, 2015-04-11 11:08 — mike kraft

BBC by Smitha Mundasad April 10, 2015
Many Ebola survivors are likely to face further health issues including eye and joint problems, the World Health Organization has warned....

Officials announced they are attempting to set up clinics in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea to monitor the health consequences Ebola survivors face.

Patients have reported problems with their vision, joints and on-going fatigue.

But Dr Bruce Aylward, assistant director general of the WHO, admitted not much was known about the long-term implications of the virus.

He said the information gathered at these clinics would help the mental and physical health needs of people recovering from the disease.

Read complete story.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32250515

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Read more about WHO: Ebola survivors at risk of eye and joint problems
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola: media ‘overlooked Africa's role in combating crisis’

Tue, 2015-04-07 15:18 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Sam Jones April 7, 2015

Africa’s efforts to tackle the Ebola crisis have been largely overlooked even though Africans have taken the lead in providing frontline staff and shown themselves “better placed to fight infectious diseases in their continent than outsiders”, according to the African Union (AU).

A Liberian health worker checks the temperature of students to curb the spread of Ebola in Caldwell, outside the capital Monrovia. Photograph: Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA

Dr Olawale Maiyegun, director of social affairs at the AU commission, said that despite the fact that Africans had proved both willing and able to deal with Ebola, the focus had been on the work of international agencies and those with the greatest media clout.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about Ebola: media ‘overlooked Africa's role in combating crisis’
Log in or register to post comments

The End of Ebola? Lessons at the Epidemic's One Year Anniversary

Mon, 2015-03-30 20:34 — mike kraft

HUFFINGTON POST Commentary by Robert Klitzman, M.D. Columbia University March 30, 2015

One year ago, the current Ebola epidemic was announced to the world. Since then, we have learned and accomplished an enormous amount....

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Disaster Risk Reduction

Disease

Health

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Read more about The End of Ebola? Lessons at the Epidemic's One Year Anniversary
Log in or register to post comments

The State of Vaccine Confidence

Sat, 2015-03-28 10:23 — mike kraft

The Vaccine Confidence Project 2015
LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE

Lead Authors: Heidi Larson, PhD and Will Schulz, MPH

Why this report:

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Situation Report

Read more about The State of Vaccine Confidence
1 comment
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola crisis points to wider global threat on a par with al-Qaida, warns UK medic

Fri, 2015-03-27 21:35 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Lisa O'Carroll March 27, 2015

Ebola should be seen as an early wake-up call to world leaders of the potential for an international health disaster in the same way that the 1998 US embassy bombings highlighted the possibility of further attacks by al-Qaida, a leading British medic in Sierra Leone has warned.

Dr Oliver Johnson has called for “a big political shakeup” at the World Health Organisation and says Britain’s Department for International Development must decide whether to “nationalise” aid and deploy the army the next time a humanitarian emergency hits.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Other

Read more about Ebola crisis points to wider global threat on a par with al-Qaida, warns UK medic
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola upsurge could undo progress in blink of an eye, warns expert

Thu, 2015-03-26 10:32 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Sam Jones March 26, 2015

Despite the massive push to bring the number of new Ebola cases down to zero as quickly as possible, there will inevitably be “flare-ups” that could reverse the overall downward trend and prove difficult to contain, the UN’s response co-ordinator has warned.

Dr David Nabarro, the UN’s special envoy for Ebola, said the huge medical, administrative and logistical operation to fight the disease could still be set back by individuals ignoring official advice.

“There will be flare-ups, there will be disappointments; there will be people who evade quarantine – because nobody likes being told to stay put – there will be people who choose not to declare that they’ve got a relative ill, there will be people who get ill and just misdiagnose themselves,” he said....

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Ebola upsurge could undo progress in blink of an eye, warns expert
Log in or register to post comments

Strengthening the Detection of and Early Response to Public Health Emergencies: Lessons learned from, the Ebola outbreake

Wed, 2015-03-25 16:14 — mike kraft

PLOS MEDICINE by Mark J. Siedner, Lawrence O. Gostin, Hilarie H. Cranmer,and John D. Kraemer March 24, 2015

In-depth paper on lessons learned from the West Africa Ebola outbreak

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Disaster Risk Reduction

Disease

Health

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Situation Report

Pandemic Disease: Never again

Tue, 2015-03-24 21:37 — mike kraft

As the Ebola epidemic draws gradually to its close, how should the world arm itself against the risks of insurgent infections?

THE ECONOMIST March 21, 2015

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Read more about Pandemic Disease: Never again
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola Diaries: Hitting the Ground Running

Tue, 2015-03-24 12:16 — mike kraft

INFECTION CONTROL TODAY March 24, 2015
The World Health Organization (WHO) is publishing a series, "Ebola Diaries," with first-person accounts of WHO staff and others deployed to the field for Ebola response since the first cases were reported in West Africa on March 23, 2014.

Dr. Stéphane Hugonnet, team lead for gobal capacities, alert and responses for the World Health Organization (WHO), was one of the first WHO experts sent to Guinea to investigate cases of Ebola reported in late March 2014. A medical doctor who has spent the past 20 years working for WHO, MSF and others, managing outbreaks ranging from cholera, measles and yellow fever, to Lassa, Ebola and meningitis, Hugonnet found a very different sort of outbreak when he arrived in Guinea.

"We were following this rumor of a small cluster of unexplained deaths in Guinea," he says. "Some thought it could be Lassa phane fever, but the transmission pattern was very compatible with Ebola. When the lab results came back, we learned that there was Ebola Zaire in West Africa.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report