Guinea Resilience System

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

Center for Global Development - cgdev.org -by Karen A. Grépin and Amanda Glassman - February 4, 2015

. . . In a new paper out today in the BMJ, Karen investigated the level and speed of the international response to the Ebola outbreak and contrasted it with the appeals made by international leaders to curb the spread of the disease. Contrary to widespread belief, Karen finds that, overall, the level of donations to the response were actually robust: as of December 31st, 2,104 donors had pledged almost $3 billion towards controlling the epidemic. Notably, this is actually larger than the official appeals for upwards of $1.5 billion. In addition, the data used underestimate total donations, in particular those given by the World Bank, which mobilized at least $1 billion in financing to help support affected countries.

BBC                                                                      Feb.23, 2015

Five UK Ebola nurses and doctors are under investigation by regulators, Public Health England says.

They are looking into the screening of medics who flew back to England on 28 December after treating patients in Sierra Leone.

                  Pauline Cafferkey was diagnosed with Ebola in December after volunteering work in Sierra Leone

On this flight was Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey - who developed Ebola - and some of her colleagues.

Questions have arisen over the health assessments and protocols that were followed.

Media reports have suggested Ms Cafferkey may have had signs of Ebola before leaving Sierra Leone but regulators have not commented on this.

http://m.bbc.com/news/health-31586074

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....