Guinea

observer.gm - by Saffiatou Colley  - December 3, 2015

The Executive Director of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) has disclosed that the West Africa Disaster Preparedness Initiative’s (WADPI) main objective is to utilise the lessons learned from the Ebola epidemic as well as strengthen national capacities among the 16 West African countries to implement an all-hazards approach to disaster response and management.

Lt. Col. Alhagie Sanneh was speaking on Tuesday at the ongoing high-level discussion on the ‘Development of a strategic work plan and to conduct a post-course assessment’, at a local hotel in Brufut.

He indicated that the training is part of the requirements of the recent West Africa Disaster Preparedness Initiative training held in Ghana, where Gambia participated.

“The WADPI programme would develop and promote inter-regional integration through ensuring continuous collaboration, communication and coordination to explore preparedness strategies that can strengthen ECOWAS member states to manage and recover from disaster events,” he said.

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nytimes.com - by Sheri Fink - November 22, 2015

In recent months, numerous groups of health experts have gathered to debate how to prevent another crisis like the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which jumped borders, spread fear across the globe, and directly killed more than 11,000 people. Many more died as hospitals and clinics closed for months.

Now two of those groups — one independent and the other convened by the World Health Organization — have released specific recommendations and called for urgent action. Both concluded that the W.H.O.’s outbreak and emergency response capacities should be strengthened and consolidated, protected from political meddling and independently overseen. The health organization is a United Nations agency.

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CLICK HERE - WHO - Advisory Group on Reform of WHO’s Work in Outbreaks and Emergencies with Health and Humanitarian Consequences

CLICK HERE - WHO - First report of the Advisory Group on Reform of WHO’s work in outbreaks and emergencies (20 page .PDF report)

cdc.gov

Janvier F, Delaune D, Poyot T, Valade E, Mérens A, Rollin PE, et al.

CLICK HERE - Ebola virus RNA stability in human blood and urine in West Africa’s environmental conditions
Emerg Infect Dis. 2016 Feb. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2202.151395

DOI: 10.3201/eid2202.151395

Abstract

We evaluated RNA stability of Ebola virus in EDTA blood and urine samples collected from infected patients and stored in West Africa’s environmental conditions. In blood, RNA was stable for at least 18 days when initial cycle threshold values were <30, but in urine, RNA degradation occurred more quickly.

reuters.com - Reporting by Saliou Samb; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Digby Lidstone - November 14, 2015

The final 68 people who had been in contact with an Ebola patient were released from quarantine on Saturday, said a senior health official, raising hopes of an end to the disease in the last West African country with confirmed cases.

The world's worst Ebola epidemic, which hopped borders to kill more than 11,300 people and devastate already fragile West African economies, has already been declared over in Liberia and Sierra Leone. But Guinea, where the outbreak began, has had a more difficult time eradicating the disease.

Dr. Abdourahmane Bathily, head of the Ebola center in Forecariah in western Guinea, said the 68 contacts had emerged from quarantine at midnight on Saturday morning.

"There are no longer any people who had contact with a person infected by the Ebola virus," said Bathily.

He added that the last confirmed Ebola case was a baby in isolation, who should be released from a treatment center next week, allowing for the West African nation to begin its own countdown clock.

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