You are here

Home

Global

Meager Post-Ebola Harvests Worsen Food Insecurity in West Africa

Mon, 2015-06-29 08:53 — Kathy Gilbeaux

            

Villagers harvest rice in Sierra Leone. Harvesting is often a communal affair in West African nations, but the Ebola crisis interfered with group activities and disrupted many other aspects of agricultural production in the region. Photo credit: ©FAO/Peter DiCampo.

mongabay.com - by Lois Parshley - June 25, 2015

Pedelers Salee Craig used to grow vegetables. Near his home in Monrovia, Liberia, he planted peppers and bitter balls, potatoes and okra. A sturdy 39 year-old man with cheeks etched from former smiles, Craig is passionate and generally optimistic. 

But he's not smiling when he talks about the situation in Liberia now. Typically, farmers work to gather crops communally, harvesting together until the season is over. But in 2014, the Ebola crisis restricted travel. 

"Everyone was afraid of each other," Craig said. Mandatory government quarantines trapped people within their homes. As the disease spread, fields went unharvested and soon lay fallow. 

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
Guinea
Liberia
Sierra Leone
General Topic Tags: 
Agriculture
Community
Disaster Response
Emergency Management
Food
Health
Vulnerability
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem
Situation Report

At Least 21 Dead, 37 Missing in Landslips

Sun, 2015-06-28 18:40 — SmShako

by Ananda Gautam, June 12, 2015 | ekantipur.com

TAPLEJUNG article photo

TAPLEJUNG, JUN 12 - At least 21 people died and 37 others went missing in landslides triggered by heavy rainfall at several places in Taplejung district on Wednesday night.

Chief District Officer Damaru Prasad Niraula said seven men, eight women and six children died in landslides at Liwang, Santhakra, Khokling, Thinglabu and Lingtep VDCs. 

(Read Complete Article)

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Nepal
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Collapse
Disaster Response
Environment
Natural Hazard
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Problem
Situation Report

EPA Report Cites Benefits of Limiting Emissions, Climate change

Sun, 2015-06-28 18:14 — SmShako

By William Yardley, LA Times, June 23, 2015 | Photo: Jim Cole, Associated Press

coal-fired plant is Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H. (Jim Cole / Associated Press)

EPA report cites benefits of reducing emissions, including at power plants, and of limiting climate change. This coal-fired plant is Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H.  (Jim Cole / Associated Press)

Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change could prevent tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of billions in economic losses in the United States, according to a new study by the Environmental Protection Agency.

(Read Complete Article)

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Environment
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem
Situation Report

New Study Links Global Warming to Hurricane Sandy and Other Extreme Weather Events

Sun, 2015-06-28 16:05 — SmShako

By John Abraham | The Gaurdian | June 22, 2015

Hurricane Sandy article image

The paper finds that global warming is putting extreme weather on steroids 

One of the hottest areas of climate research these days is on the potential connections between human emissions, global warming, and extreme weather. Will global warming make extreme weather more common or less common? More severe or less severe? 

(Read Complete Article)

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Disaster Response
Extreme Weather
Flood
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Problem
Situation Report

Finger-prick, blood test for Ebola takes just minutes

Fri, 2015-06-26 13:19 — mike kraft

THE WASHINGTON POST by Ariana Eunjung Cha                                                      June 26, 2015

Public health officials may soon be able to screen patients for Ebola at border crossings and hospitals with a finger-prick blood test that takes mere minutes.

The development of the rapid diagnostic test, reported in The Lancet Thursday, represents a significant victory for scientists around the world who have been experimenting over the past year with all manner of vaccines, treatments and other ways of eradicating the virus.

Developing a way of confirming Ebola in a patient has been one of the top priorities. In the early stages the symptoms -- chest pain, cough, nausea -- can look like many other illnesses, making it very difficult for doctors to triage -- to determine who should be quarantined and who to send home. It can often take days or longer for laboratory tests, the current standard, to return a positive or negative result.

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
Guinea
Conakry
Liberia
Sierra Leone
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disease
Health
Research
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions

Neglected Tropical Diseases in the Ebola- Affected Countries of West Africa

Fri, 2015-06-26 12:49 — mike kraft
PLOS   EDITORIAL by Peter J. Hotez, Sabin Vaccine Institute                          June 25, 2015
While global attention in West Africa is focused on the emergence of Ebola virus infection, new information from the published literature and World Health Organization databases reveals that many other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are far more widespread and also require urgent attention.
Well before Ebola virus infection emerged in West Africa at the end of 2013, the three
major affected countries--Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone were already known to
be highly affected by NTDs....
Today, new information from the recent literature and the World Health Organization
(WHO) Preventive Chemotherapy and Transmission (PCT) Control databases reveals that
NTDs remain widespread in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.  An estimated
Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
Guinea
Conakry
Liberia
Sierra Leone
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disease
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem

Surgeon General Calls Climate Change A Serious, Immediate And Global Threat To Human Health

Fri, 2015-06-26 09:25 — Kathy Gilbeaux

              

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 07: Vivek Murthy, U.S. surgeon general, speaks while participating in a roundtable discussion on the impacts of climate change on public health at Howard University with U.S. President Barack Obama, not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, April 7, 2015. President Obama is warning that climate change will start affecting Americans health in the near future and he's recruiting top technology companies to help prepare the nation’s health systems. (Photo | Pool via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE - STUDY - EPA - Climate Change in the United States: Benefits of Global Action

CLICK HERE - REPORT - The Lancet - Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health

huffingtonpost.com - by Kate Sheppard - June 24, 2015

WASHINGTON -- Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Tuesday that climate change presents a "serious, immediate and global threat to human health," calling the danger a "sobering truth."

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

Health and Climate Change: A Call for Immediate Action

Fri, 2015-06-26 08:51 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Nguyen Huu Ninh

               

AFP / Dimitar Dilkoff

CLICK HERE - REPORT - The Lancet - Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health

lemonde.fr - by Paul Benkimoun - June 23, 2015

Acting against climate change is both an emergency and the opportunity to achieve the greatest progress for public health in the 21 e century. It is in these terms that the Commission’s report Lancet on health and climate change poses the challenge to humanity. Online on Tuesday, June 23 about the British medical weekly site [1,999,011], the document was written by a multidisciplinary European and Chinese academic team.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE - ENGLISH)

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE - FRENCH)

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

WHO Ebola Situation Report - June 24, 2015 | UNMEER External Situation Report - June 22, 2015

Thu, 2015-06-25 22:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

                  

who.int - June 24, 2015                                                                         ebolaresponse.un.org - June 22, 2015

CLICK HERE - WHO Ebola Situation Report - June 24, 2015

CLICK HERE - UNMEER External Situation Report - June 22, 2015 - (2 page .PDF file)

CLICK HERE - WHO Ebola Situation Reports

CLICK HERE - UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) Situation Reports

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
Guinea
Liberia
Sierra Leone
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disease
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

South Korea Cuts Growth Forecast as MERS Saps Spending

Thu, 2015-06-25 12:29 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A man walks through tour buses at a parking lot after schools cancel excursions due to concerns over the spreading of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, June 25, 2015. South Korea's finance ministry said Thursday that economic growth will slow this year as the outbreak of MERS saps spending and tourism. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

bigstory.ap.org - by Youkyung Lee - June 25, 2015

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's finance ministry said Thursday that economic growth will slow this year as the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome saps spending and tourism.

The ministry cut its forecast for South Korea's growth to 3.1 percent from 3.8 percent. Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 3.3 percent last year.

The outbreak that began last month is having a bigger effect on South Korea's economy than a deadly ferry disaster last year that plunged the country into mourning.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disease
Economics
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem
Situation Report

Pages

Subscribe to Global
howdy folks
Page loaded in 1.321 seconds.