Liberia

ASSOCIATED PRESS by Maria Cheng                                                                                 Feb. 23, 2015

LONDON – The World Health Organization says the two leading Ebola vaccines appear safe and will soon be tested in healthy volunteers in West Africa.

After an expert meeting this week, WHO said there is now enough information to conclude that the two most advanced Ebola vaccines — one made by GlaxoSmithKline and the other licensed by Merck and NewLink — have "an acceptable safety profile."

In a press briefing Friday, Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, who heads WHO's Ebola vaccine efforts, said "the cupboard (for Ebola vaccines) is filling up rapidly."

She said further trials in healthy people in West Africa, including health workers, are scheduled to start soon. Kieny added several other vaccines were being developed in the U.S., Russia and elsewhere.

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MONROVIA -- A Liberian health ministry official said the country will continue to observe all Ebola preventive protocols and regulations until it achieves “zero infections.”

This came as President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Sunday ordered the lifting of the nationwide Ebola curfew put in place in August to prevent the further spread of the virus. 

Tolbert Nyenswah, the assistant minister of health for preventive services and head of the country’s Ebola response, said Liberia is returning to a more normal state in light of the recent decline in the number of Ebola cases and the reopening of schools....

“Our county health teams in Liberia are more vigilant with cross-border surveillance. All of our border counties have been freed of Ebola either in the last 35 to 42 days, including Grand Cape Mounty, Gbarpolu, Lofa, and Nimba. These counties bordering Sierra Leone and Guinea have been Ebola free over 42 days now,” Nyenswah said.
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http://www.voanews.com/content/liberia-lifts-ebola-curfew-reopens-borders/2654610.html

 WHO PRESS RELEASE                                                                                              Feb. 23, 2015

Every day, every bed in an Ebola treatment unit creates approximately 300 litres of liquid waste. Managing this waste has been a challenge in the Ebola outbreak in Liberia. WHO is working with partners to ensure this waste is effectively decontaminated and no longer poses a threat to health.

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INTERVIEW by Laura Starecheski                                     Feb. 20, 2015
BARKEDU,  LIBERIA --If you'd like to get an idea of what resilience is all about, take a lesson from Mamuedeh Kanneh.

She lost her husband to Ebola. But she's stayed strong. She's caring for 13 children, her own and orphans whose parents died of the virus.

Mamuedeh Kanneh was married to Laiye Barwor, the man who brought Ebola to Barkedu, Liberia. He died of the virus. She now cares for her children as well as children who lost their parents to the disease. John W. Poole/NPR

Kanneh lives in Barkedu, a village of about 6,000 in northern Liberia. Ebola took more than 150 lives. In her neighborhood there were many deaths, so people in other parts of Barkedu are scared of the orphans.

Kanneh has a strategy to help these children — and the village overall — get back to normal life. She sends the youngsters on errands so people can get used to seeing them and get over their fear. And the children can start to feel they're part of the community again....