acaps.org

Ebola Project, Thematic Report: Key issues for recovery and preparedness, Oct 2015 (3 page .PDF file)
http://acaps.org/img/documents/e-acaps-ebola-project-thematic-report-key-issues-for-recovery-and-preparedness-oct-2015.pdf

ACAPS - Thematic Reports
http://acaps.org/en/pages/ebola-project-sep-dec-2015-thematic-reports

submitted by Carrie La Jeunesse

PAHO/WHO calls for more collaboration between governments and indigenous communities in preparing for emergencies and disasters

Washington, D.C., 6 October 2015 (PAHO/WHO) -- Involving indigenous communities in disaster risk reduction activities can save lives during catastrophes, experts with the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) said on the eve of the International Day for Disaster Reduction 2015.

Building on a growing recognition that mainstream methods of disaster preparedness and mitigation have left indigenous people and their deep knowledge on the sidelines, PAHO/WHO is calling for new disaster risk reduction models based on close collaboration with the communities often most affected by catastrophes, both natural and man-made.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

submitted by Carrie La Jeunesse

nejm.org - October 14, 2015 - DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe1512928

The number of new cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in western Africa has declined from a peak of 1063 cases in the week of October 9, 2014, to fewer than 10 confirmed cases per week for 11 consecutive weeks as of October 7, 2015. The main mode of transmission is direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a person with EVD or from the body of a person who died from EVD. However, Ebola virus can persist in the body fluids of survivors during convalescence, which may result in transmission of the virus. The potential for the persistence of Ebola virus in the semen of male survivors raises concern regarding the possible transmission of the virus to sexual partners.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Image: Two women go back to their village after collecting garbage to sell to traders, Gazipur. PROBAL RASHID

wired.com - October 14th 2015 - Laura Mallonee

Bangladesh is dominated by a vast river delta of rich, fertile and flat land no more than 40 feet above sea level. That makes it especially susceptible to climate change. Scientists estimate that rising sea levels will claim as much as 17 percent of the country by 2050, displacing as many as 18 million people.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Buildings near the ocean in North Miami, Fla., a state with a high risk of flooding as sea levels rise, according to a recent report. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Carbon choices determine US cities committed to futures below sea level

CLICK HERE - INTERACTIVE MAP - Surging Seas

washingtonpost.com - by Chris Mooney - October 12, 2015

In a new study, a team of scientists who specialize in studying rising seas bring the implications of their research right to the U.S.’s doorstep — calculating just how many American cities and municipalities are at risk of being flooded in the future, as well as how many may already be committed to that fate.

Sierra Leone health officials check people transiting at the border crossing with Liberia in Jendema in March 2015.
Photograph: Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine finds that if Britain had set up beds one month earlier, about 7,500 people would not have become ill

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Measuring the impact of Ebola control measures in Sierra Leone

theguardian.com - by Sarah Boseley - October 12, 2015

The number of Ebola cases in Sierra Leone could have been halved if treatment beds had been set up by the UK government and charities just one month earlier, a report claims.

The slow response of the World Health Organisation and others to the increasingly desperate pleas for help from people on the ground, especially Médecins sans Frontières, has attracted widespread criticism. Now researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have revealed how many could have been spared the disease if action had been taken sooner.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH by Catherine Saez, Oct, 12, 2015

(Scroll down for Ministers' Statement.)

The health ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) most developed countries have issued a declaration on antimicrobial resistance and Ebola. The governments said they would explore innovative economic incentives to promote research and development of new antibiotics, such as a global antibiotic research fund and a market entry reward mechanism.

The G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States) met from 8-9 October in Berlin and agreed to the Berlin Declaration [pdf] on Antimicrobial Resistance – Global Union for Antibiotics Research and Development (GUARD), aimed at supporting developing countries to develop national antimicrobial resistance action plans.

The G7 health ministers also issued a commitment on lessons learned from Ebola, and supported the 2005 World Health Organization International Health Regulations (IHR), insisting on the need to comply with them.

submitted by George Hurlburt

Yaovi Gaffa, 20, chained in a room at a prayer camp near Lomé, Togo, in April. Chaining is a last resort for families in West Africa where psychiatry is virtually unknown. Credit Joao Silva/The New York Times

nytimes.com - by Benedict Carey - October 11, 2015

KPOVÉ, Togo — The church grounds here sprawled through a strange, dreamlike forest. More than 150 men and women were chained by the ankle to a tree or concrete block, a short walk from the central place of worship. Most were experiencing the fearsome delusions of schizophrenia.

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who.int - October 9, 2015

Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health Organization

Remarks at the G7 Health Ministers Meeting. Session on Ebola: lessons learned and the International Health Regulations. Berlin, Germany

Honourable ministers, ladies and gentlemen,

I will focus my remarks on lessons learned and the IHR.

Managing the global regime for controlling the international spread of disease is a central and historical responsibility of WHO. In a given year, WHO manages around 100 outbreaks of familiar diseases, like cholera, dengue, meningitis, and many others. This Ebola outbreak was different. It was complex in size and context, present in three countries which were unfamiliar with the disease and ill-prepared.

(READ COMPLETE REMARKS)

odi.org - Aditya Bahadur, Emma Lovell, Emily Wilkinson, Thomas Tanner - August 2015

CLICK HERE - Resilience in the SDGs - Developing an indicator for Target 1.5 that is fit for purpose (7 page .PDF file)

We outline a comprehensive approach for developing a cross-sectoral, multi-dimensional and dynamic understanding of resilience. This underpins the core message of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that development is multi-faceted and the achievement of many of the individual development goals is dependent on the accomplishment of other goals. It also acknowledges that shocks and stresses can reverse years of development gains and efforts to eradicate poverty by 2030. Crucially, this approach to understanding resilience draws on data that countries will collect for the SDGs anyway and entails only a small additional burden in this regard.

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

submitted by Andrew Schroeder

directrelief.org - by Andrew Schroeder - October 14, 2015

Early Fall mornings in Cambridge, MA have the feeling practically of American myth. The sun rises over the mist that hangs like a blanket on the Charles River, lighting the water with a pale glow that filters through multi-colored leaves and glints off the steel and glass fronts of the buildings which line the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). I’m hurrying down Massachusetts Ave towards Technology Square, wind in my face and coffee in hand, to arrive for the start of the second annual Humanitarian UAV (drone) Experts Meeting happening at MIT Lincoln Labs’ Beaver Works. The meeting is hosted by UAViators (Humanitarian UAV Network), a brainchild of my friend and colleague Patrick Meier.

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Image: Image of person withdrawing medication from a vial with a needle.

wired.com - October 9th 2015 - Sarah Zhang

Among flu viruses, H3N2 is the one you should fear the most. It lands the most patients in hospitals. It kills the most people. 

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Pauline Cafferkey previously spent a month in the specialist isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London

bbc.com - October 9, 2015

A Scottish nurse who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone last year is in a "serious condition" after being readmitted to an isolation unit in London.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed that the virus is still present in Pauline Cafferkey's body after being left over from the original infection.

She is not thought to be contagious.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Increased use of low-carbon energy sources instead of fossil energy sources is making it easier for countries to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report.  Photograph: Mick Tsikas/Reuters

New report from green think tank Heinrich Boll shows OECD countries grew their economies 16% in last decade – and cut greenhouse gas emissions 6.4%

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH REPORT - Turning point: Decoupling Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Economic Growth

theguardian.com - by Bruce Watson - September 26, 2015

As the world works out how to avoid catastrophic climate change, one of the biggest questions remaining is whether we can continue to grow economically without also increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

BBC   Oct. 8, 2015  
(Scroll down for WHO Report.)                     

The three West African countries at the heart of the Ebola epidemic recorded their first week with no new cases since the outbreak began in March 2014.

                               The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 11,000 people

The outbreak has so far killed more than 11,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

New cases have fallen sharply in 2015, but the WHO has warned that the disease could break out again.

Read complete story.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34471234?utm_source=Copy+of+October+7%2C+2015+EN&utm_campaign=10%2F8%2F2015+fr&utm_medium=email

WHO SITUATION REPORT 7 Oct.  2015

http://apps.who.int/ebola/current-situation/ebola-situation-report-7-october-2015