Problem

Benno Muchler - November 25, 2014 - qz.com

Ebola was one of the biggest news stories this year. What did we learn from it? Not much. Panic and fear replaced rational thinking. And there was another pernicious behavior we didn’t change.

Ebola would have been a chance to start differentiating Africa. Yet, we’re doing quite the opposite. We continue to look at Africa as one country. We act as if the whole continent is contaminated. And most sadly, outside Africa we stigmatize Africans, no matter which part of the continent they’re from, because of Ebola.

Read the whole article here:

http://qz.com/301707/people-are-treating-africa-like-a-country-because-of-ebola/

WASHINGTON POST                                                                                                            Nov. 21, 2014
by Kevin Sieff
FREETOWN,Sierra Leone
...while bed space expanded in Liberia’s capital, it did not  here. Pledges were made to build new treatment centers, but many were delayed — sometimes because of logistical challenges. Some aid groups canceled their plans altogether, unable to deliver on their commitments. The closest treatment center with consistently available beds is eight hours from Freetown.

“We thought we would have all these beds coming on line, but it didn’t happen when we needed them,” said Winnie Romeril,
a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization. “Everyone knew the problem here was going to get bigger.”

Read complete story

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/six-months-after-ebola-appeared-sierra-leone-still-lacks-beds-for-patients/2014/11/19/6101aa7d-ee68-4370-b2e5-899afc09fb02_story.html

Epidemic Delays Rollout of Jobs Meant for Residents of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone

WALL STREET JOURNAL                                                                                             Nov. 19, 2014
By Patrick McGroarty in Liberia, David Gauthier-Villars in Guinea
and Alex MacDonald in London

...a promising corner of the global economic frontier is pocked with stalled mining projects. The Ebola epidemic has scared off ships and planes; prompted expatriates to abandon their posts; and delayed the rollout of thousands of jobs meant for residents of the three poor West African countries hardest hit by the virus: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

A three-story steel shiploader at ArcelorMittal’s port in the Liberian city of Buchanan is part of a $1.7 billion expansion delayed by Ebola. Patrick McGroarty/The Wall Street Journal

“All the projects are at a standstill,” said Mr. Foulah, chief executive of the mining-explosives firm ECP Guinée.

C’est la semaine dernière que le ministère de la Santé a été informé du décès de trois agents de l’hôpital St Jean de Dieu de Tanguiéta. Parmi eux, il y aurait deux infirmières en néonatologie. Vendredi, c’est un pédiatre qui est mort à Porto-Novo où il avait été transféré.