THE GUARDIAN  by  Lisa O'Carroll                                                                        March 4, 2015

The devastating impact of the Ebola crisis was laid bare this week with a report showing more than 12,000 children have been orphaned by the disease in Sierra Leone.

They have been identified in the first national survey of orphans, which was conducted by the British charity Street Child. It says the future for these children is dire. Many are living in fear without the support and security of parents, but the charity says there is light at the end of the tunnel “if the international aid community works together”.

The charity found that some children, rejected by their friends because of the stigma of Ebola, have tried to take their own lives, while girls are being forced into commercial sex work to earn money for food their parents would have previously provided.

COMMENTARY: Foreign leaders discussing solutions to the Ebola epidemic must acknowledge the contribution made by local workers to reduce infection rates

     International response … leaders of Ebola-hit countries in west Africa and EU commissioners attend a conference in    Brussels on Ebola on Tuesday 3 March. Photograph: Thierry Charlier/AFP/Getty Images

THE GUARDIAN by James Fofanah                                                                    March 3, 2015

...The international community’s initial focus on a purely medical response – and a megaphone broadcast of the over-simplistic message that “Ebola is real” – was a failure, and a major reason for the rapid spread of the disease at the early-to-middle stages of the epidemic.

BBC                                                                                                                      March 3, 2015

BRUSSELS --Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has called for a "Marshall Plan" for the Ebola-affected countries of West Africa.

                             World leaders met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the fight against Ebola

She was referring to the massive US aid programme for Europe launched after World War Two.

Her comments came after Sierra Leone was immediately granted more than $80m (£52m) to help end the Ebola outbreak and recover from its effects.

The IMF has pledged a $187m financial aid package for Sierra Leone.

Read complete story.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31705594

Investment in universal healthcare: Improving health systems in three Ebola-hit African countries would have cost a third of relief effort there, says new Save the Children report

THE GUARDIAN      by Lisa O'Connell                                                                   March 3, 015
Up to 30 countries are vulnerable to an Ebola-style epidemic, unless the world sits up and helps get urgent investment into universal healthcare, a report (pdf) has found.

Health workers who have returned from west Africa and colleagues based in the UK walk to Westminster in support of Save the Children’s campaign to strengthen health systems globally. Photograph: Jeff Moore/Save the Children