Africa Resilience Initiative

CLICK HERE - WHO - Disease Outbreak News - Haemorrhagic fever syndrome – South Sudan - 19 May 2016

npr.org - Michaeleen Doucleff - May 31, 2016

The last time, we heard about a "mysterious hemorrhagic fever" in a country, it was February 2014. The outbreak was in Guinea. And by the time doctors had pinpointed the culprit, Ebola was spiraling out of control in West Africa.

The situation in South Sudan today is a far cry from that in West Africa a few years ago. But it's still concerning, the World Health Organization said.

So far, there have been 51 cases — including 10 deaths — from an unknown disease in the northern part of South Sudan. The main symptoms of the disease are similar to those seen with Ebola: unexplained bleeding, fever, fatigue, headache and vomiting.

But the culprit definitely isn't Ebola.

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ISE-SHIMA (Japan), (Sputnik) – The recent Ebola outbreak claimed the lives of over 11,000 people, according to WHO estimates.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that Ebola virus flare-ups would happen in 2016 despite the fact that all known chains of Ebola transmission had been stopped in West Africa.

When I told her that I wanted to major in microbiology, my best friend from childhood responded, “Are you sure you want to look in a microscope all day?”

But, as it turned out, a lot of microbiologists don’t use microscopes very often. I was one of them. The reason is because a substantial proportion of modern microbiology research uses the tools of molecular biology, for which microscopes are not needed.

By using digital payments to pay Ebola response workers, Sierra Leone massively cut payment times, avoiding large-scale strikes and ensuring a stable workforce to defeat Ebola. Sierra Leone’s experience shows the critical importance of preparing early for digital payments before crises hit.