Situation Report

BLOOMBERG--By Andrew Pollack and Doni Bloomfield                                                                  Dec.4, 2014

ATLANTA-- An American health worker who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus arrived at an Atlanta hospital today for possible treatment after being evacuated by air from West Africa, where the outbreak is at its worst.

The health worker, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was admitted this morning at Emory University Hospital, which has successfully treated four other Ebola patients, the hospital said in an e-mail.

“Emory cannot share more details out of respect for patient privacy and in accordance with the patient’s wishes,” the hospital said. Phoenix Air, a medical charter company, flew the patient from West Africa, according to the statement. Earlier this week, Emory was named one of 35 U.S. hospitals designated to treat Ebola patients.

Emory didn’t say in what country the health worker may have been exposed.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-04/health-care-worker-who-may-have-ebola-headed-to-u-s-.html

AFP                                                                                                          Dec. 2, 2014

FREETOWN -- Ebola-hit Sierra Leone has quarantined hundreds of thousands more citizens, it said Tuesday, sealing off a sixth district, with more than half of the country's population already under lockdown.

A nurse wearing personal protective equipment checks on a patient at the Kenama ebola treatment center run by the Red Cross Society on November 15, 2014 in Sierra Leone ©Francisco Leong (AFP/File)

Tonkolili, in the centre, was added to the growing list of districts which no one is allowed to leave or enter without special dispensation, in an effort to combat an outbreak which is spiralling out of control, with 1,400 deaths so far....

The northern districts of Port Loko and Bombali were closed off indefinitely along with the southern district of Moyamba in September -- effectively sealing in more than one million people.

REUTERS-by  Misha Hussain                                   Dec. 3, 2014

DAKAR, Senegal   - Some five million children are out of school in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone because of the deadly Ebola outbreak, according to a report by the Global Business Coalition for Education.

A man walks by a mural with health instructions on treating the Ebola virus, in Monrovia, November 18, 2014. Credit: Reuters/James Giahyue

Schools and other public buildings have been closed because they are believed to increase the spread of the virus. Many are now used as holding centers for Ebola patients.

The report, co-written with A World at School, said being out of school can have a crippling impact on vulnerable children, especially girls, who are more likely to face high-risk situations as a result, including early marriage and pregnancy.

If schools are not reopened, the most vulnerable children will become trapped in a cycle of poverty with devastating consequences for their health and economic development, the report said.

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voanews.com - by Deborah Block - Nov 26, 2014



On Thanksgiving day in the United States, Americans give thanks for their blessings. Among them is Bobby Smith, who emigrated to here 25 years ago from Sierra Leone. To give back, three years ago Smith began a small volunteer organization, Hope for Lives in Sierra Leone, to help the disadvantaged in his homeland -- one of the poorest countries in the world. As VOA’s Deborah Block reports, he now is sending medical supplies to help combat Ebola, which continues to devastate Sierra Leone.

http://www.voanews.com/media/video/sierra-leonean-in-us-sends-medical-supplies-home-to-combat-ebola/2535979.html