Africa Resilience Initiative

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Sat, 2009-03-21 11:57 — mdmcdonald

The mission of this working group is to articulate and shape issues of resilience and sustainability on the continent of Africa as they may be implemented as reforms of current policies, as well as contemplate and make recommendations for more extensive critiques and proposals for national, provincial, and local systems transformation, as may be necessary or desirable beyond the scope of traditional reforms being undertaken by the current African national governments and local government proposals in Africa.

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This working group is focused on developing an Africa Resilience Initiative to ensure resilience and sustainability for all Africans.

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Aboubacar Conte	admin	Anthony	bnorton	Carrielaj	Chisina Kapungu
ChrisAllen	craig.sevcik	Dr Ojia Adamolekun	efrost	Elhadj Drame	Grace Kim
Hadiatou Balde	jranck	Kathy Gilbeaux	mdmcdonald	MDMcDonald_me_com	mike kraft
njchapman	Norea	SmShako	TacarraB	Tjivekumba Kandjii

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Ebola could cost West Africa $15 billion over three years

Thu, 2015-03-12 12:35 — mike kraft

REUTERS by Misha Hussain March 12, 2015sC

(Scroll down for links to press release and full report.)

DAKAR -- West Africa may lose up to $15 billion over the next three years due to the impact of the Ebola outbreak on trade, investment and tourism, according to a report by the United Nations.

The world's deadliest Ebola epidemic has killed almost 10,000 people in the three most affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, deepening poverty in one of the least developed parts of the world.

"The consequences of Ebola are vast," said Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, Africa director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

"Stigma and risk aversion have caused considerable amounts of damage, shutting down borders and indirectly affecting the economies of a large number of countries in the sub-region."

Read complete story

http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-could-cost-west-africa-15-billion-over-150805196.html;_ylt=AwrBJSCTtwFVoAIAda3QtDMD

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British Army medic with Ebola evacuated with two other suspected cases

Thu, 2015-03-12 10:15 — mike kraft

THE TELEGRAPH by Victoria Ward and Ben Farmer March 12, 2015

A female Army medic who has caught Ebola while working in Sierra Leone is being flown back to Britain by the RAF, along with two workers who have been in close contact with her.

Beatrice Yordoldo (Seated), an Ebola patient, poses for photographs with medical staff Photo: AFP

Two further health workers who have been exposed to the unnamed soldier are being tested in Sierra Leone and could be evacuated later...

The woman is the third British health care worker confirmed to have caught the deadly virus...

Justine Greening, the Development Secretary, said the checks on the four other workers were "purely precautionary" after they had close contact with the female patient.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11466376/British-Army-medic-with-Ebola-being-flown-back-to-UK.html

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Liberian Leader Concedes Errors in Response to Ebola

Thu, 2015-03-12 09:50 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES by Rick Gladstone March 12, 2015

The president of Liberia acknowledged on Wednesday that she had erred in ordering a tough security crackdown at the height of the Ebola crisis last year, describing the deadly virus as an “unknown enemy” that had frightened her.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf during a video address last Deceber to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

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New Ebola drug trial starts in Sierra Leone

Wed, 2015-03-11 22:07 — mike kraft

SCIENCE By Kai Kupferschmidt March 11, 2015

Researchers in Sierra Leone today started a new phase II trial of an experimental drug in Ebola patients. The first participant received an injection of the therapeutic, called TKM-Ebola, this morning at an Ebola treatment unit in Kerry Town. The trial may expand to other sites; the study team hopes to have an answer fast so that it can either move on to another drug or start a phase III study of TKM-Ebola.

Produced by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals in Burnaby, Canada, TKM-Ebola is made of synthetic, small interfering RNAs packaged into lipid nanoparticles. The RNAs target three of Ebola’s seven genes, blocking the virus’s replication. TKM-Ebola has been shown to work well in monkeys; the efficacy trial in humans is only starting now because there was not enough of the drug available earlier. Also, the RNAs have been adapted to the strain circulating at the moment.

The study does not have a placebo arm; all patients at the trial site are eligible for the drug, and researchers hope to determine whether it works by comparing them with patients treated elsewhere.

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Study Indicates Ebola-Infected Sewage May Require Longer Holding Period

Wed, 2015-03-11 21:48 — mike kraft

INFECTION CONTROL TODAY March 11, 2015
Storing Ebola-infected sewage for a week at 86 degrees Fahrenheit or higher should allow enough time for more than 99.99 percent of the virus to die, though lower ambient temperatures may require a longer holding period, according to a new study by researchers at Georgia State University's School of Public Health.

The study co-authored by Lisa M. Casanova, assistant professor of environmental health, and Scott R. Weaver, research assistant professor in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, used bacteriophage Φ6, a type of virus, as a stand-in to study how long Ebola and similar viruses can survive in latrines and other systems for collecting and disposing of sewage. Bacteriophage Φ6 has a lipid envelope, meaning it has structural similarities to Ebola and several other types of virus, allowing for a safe study that did not require use of Ebola itself.

"The places hardest hit by Ebola are the places that often have the least infrastructure for safely disposing of sewage and are using things like pit latrines," says Casanova. "They need the answers to questions like this."

Read full article.

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No new Ebola cases in Liberia for more than two weeks: WHO

Wed, 2015-03-11 21:23 — mike kraft

AFP March 11, 2015

Geneva - No new case of the deadly Ebola virus has been registered in Liberia since February 19, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, also hailing positive signs in Sierra Leone and Guinea.

A man walks past an Ebola campaign banner with the new slogan "Ebola Must GO" in Monrovia

Liberia, long the hardest-hit country in the Ebola epidemic that has killed nearly 10,000 people in west Africa, "has now gone well over two weeks without a new reported case," said Bruce Aylward, who heads WHO's Ebola response....

The outlook was less positive in the other countries affected by the outbreak, Guinea and Sierra Leone, although Aylward highlighted positive signs there too.
Read complete story.
http://news.yahoo.com/no-ebola-cases-liberia-more-two-weeks-175855158.html;_ylt=AwrBJR9j5gBVAQYArDLQtDMD

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Waning interest is biggest risk in race to overcome Ebola: WHO

Wed, 2015-03-11 21:05 — mike kraft

REUTERS by Tom Miles March 11, 2015

GENEVA -Waning interest in Ebola could jeopardize efforts to stamp out the world's worst recorded outbreak of the disease, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Nameplates are seen at a cemetery for victims of Ebola virus in Suakoko, Liberia, March 11, 2015. Reuters/James Giahyue

Case numbers have fallen to a low level and it should be possible to stop transmission by mid-year, but the disease is "not waning" and it is much too early to assume the outbreak will end, said WHO Assistant Director General Bruce Aylward.

"We talk often about how steep the drop in cases has been. The only thing that has dropped more quickly and more steeply is the new contributions in financing," he told reporters in Geneva.

...the failure to make further inroads is "alarming", Aylward said.

"Getting from here to zero is going to require another reinvestment (in the drive to tackle the outbreak)."

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The State of African Resilience

Wed, 2015-03-11 17:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

CLICK HERE - AUDIO - MEETING
The State of African Resilience
March 11, 2015 - 2:00pm-4:00pm
Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)

Understanding Dimensions of Vulnerability and Adaptation

CLICK HERE - REPORT - The State of African Resilience
(72 page .PDF Report)

csis.org - by Jennifer G. Cooke - March 11, 2015

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Ebola-Stricken Countries Lagged in Health Systems

Wed, 2015-03-11 15:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

savethechildren.org

CLICK HERE - REPORT - A WAKE-UP CALL - Lessons from Ebola for the world’s health systems (50 page .PDF report)

nytimes.com - by Donald G. McNeil Jr. - March 9, 2015

The world has spent more than $4 billion fighting Ebola, but according to a new report from Save the Children, it would have cost only $1.6 billion to bring health care systems up to minimum standards in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, which might have prevented the outbreak or ended it faster.

Even before Ebola struck West Africa, more than 25 countries had health care systems worse than those in impoverished Liberia and Sierra Leone, the report also found.

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Why we’re still waiting on an Ebola vaccine

Wed, 2015-03-11 11:24 — mike kraft

Researchers are scrambling to start trials before the outbreak fades, but establishing faith in vaccines will take time

AL JAZEERA AMERICA by Amy Maxmen March 11, 2015

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Since Ebola hit this coastal city last summer, nurses at Connaught Hospital have put their lives on the line by working with patients at risk of the deadly disease. Now researchers aim to recruit them as well as ambulance drivers and other hospital staff as subjects in one of the largest Ebola vaccine trials to date.

But just a few weeks before the trial begins enrollment, many health care workers are voicing discomfort about the shot. “It would be really good to have a vaccine, but we’re scared because it’s new,” said Kadiatu Nubieu, a nurse at Connaught.

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