Ebola. Pandemic flu. And now the Zika virus. These emergencies all test the mettle of the world’s public health officials.
Those who would face such a challenge must have some sense of what to do.
“We need to be prepared, and quite frankly, the country is underprepared,” said U.S. Rep Susan Brooks, who Wednesday convened a group of about 40 public health workers and other would-be first responders to run through a training exercise at the Fishers Public Library.
Dr. W. Craig Vanderwagen, former assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, led the thought experiment into how to handle a blossoming smallpox outbreak that starts in Europe and rapidly spreads overseas.
With 33 countries in the Americas now identified as carrying the Zika virus, the need for a solution to the epidemic is great. But with limited funds in the regions where it’s spreading the fastest, the need for a cost-effective one is even greater.
Salesian missionaries are assisting the small village of Kumbrabai, 100 kilometers from the capital city of Freetown in Sierra Leone, which has been severely impacted by the Ebola virus. The village once had 270 residents but 82 villagers succumbed to Ebola and 65 more who were infected fled the village. Entire families were lost and some are left with only one member. Those who remained in the village were shunned by their own people who were afraid to enter homes where someone had died. The community was stigmatized and isolated by other villages out of fear.
The United States Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, is in Sierra Leone, holding talks with President Ernest Bai Koroma, the office of the President said Thursday in a statement. The statement said Mr Mabus was accompanied to State House by the US Ambassador to Sierra Leone, John Hoover.
The discussion, according to the statement, centered on the improvement of maritime security.
Liberia's Ebola cluster grows to 3, linked to fatal case in Guinea
Two Ebola case-patients, both children, and one fatality in Liberia have been linked to a fatal Ebola infection in Guinea's ongoing flare-up, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today, increasing the number of recent cases in Liberia to three.
The Liberian fatal case involves the wife of a deceased Ebola patient in Guinea's Macenta prefecture. She and her three children traveled to Monrovia, Liberia, following the man's death, where she developed symptoms of Ebola and died on Mar 31.
Two of her sons have tested positive for Ebola and are receiving treatment in a Monrovia hospital, the WHO said. More than 100 of the family's Liberian contacts are being monitored for signs of infection.
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Sierra Leone's president is urging foreign investment in the West African country now that Ebola has declined.
President Ernest Bai Koroma said Thursday great efforts are needed to restart the economy — especially the agricultural sector, which suffered most during the world's deadliest Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,300 people, mostly in West Africa.
The fall in price of iron ore and other minerals has had an adverse effect to the Sierra Leonean economy as reflected in the poor performance of the government sector. Before the outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic Ebola disease in the country in May 2014, Sierra Leone was referred to as the one with the fastest growing economy by the government itself, official sources and other partners. The 18 months standoff period of the Ebola era halted if not all, but most of the economic activities that were going on in the country and the problems within the mining sector left the country’s economy in bad shape. But this does not mean there are no ways to rescue the situation. One major sector that can rescue the country’s economy, but also make it sustainable for a very long period is the ‘Tourism Sector’ which has the potential to transform the image of Sierra Leone, but only if much attention is given to this sector. This country can learn from the success story of ‘Hainan province’ which was once an exile town but it has recently been transformed into a paradise for tourist’s attraction.
WHO and Ministry of Health teams in Guinea and Liberia have established epidemiological links between new Ebola cases in Liberia and a current flare-up of Ebola in neighbouring Guinea following intensified case investigations and contact tracing.
The Anti-Corruption Commission Sub-Regional Office in Kono District from the 22nd to the 24th March, 2016 monitored and provided oversight role in the World Food Programme (WFP) Cash Transfer to Eighty (80) Ebola Survivors in Kono District. The Cash was paid by SPLASH Money Transfer.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Sierra Leone Chapter, in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Parliament, has at the end of March 2016, engaged various community stakeholders and MPs in the Western Area on raising awareness on gender based violence and stigmatization of Ebola survivors.
Delivering the keynote address and official launch of the one day dialogue forum, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Chernor Bah, praised the IPU and Parliament for their support to the educational sector on the issues of gender based violence in the country. Hon. Bah noted that violence against women and girls cuts across our society and urged all to take the training very seriously.
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