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The mission of the Global Health Working Group is to explore and improve current and emerging states of health and human security worldwide.

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This Working Group is focused on exploring current and emerging states of health and human security worldwide.
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Aboubacar Conte admin Albert Gomez Allan Anthony Carrielaj
Chisina Kapungu ChrisAllen Corey Watts CPetry DeannaPolk Elhadj Drame
Gavin Macgregor... Hadiatou Balde hank_test jranck JSole Kathy Gilbeaux
Lisa Stelly Thomas loguest Maeryn Obley mdmcdonald MDMcDonald_me_com Mika Shimizu
mike kraft njchapman Norea Tiaji Salaam-Blyther tnovotny

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Study: Ebola Infections 17 Times Less Likely in Communities that Participated in Community-Led Total Sanitation

globalcommunities.org - August 13, 2015

100% of 284 Open Defecation-Free Liberian communities reported they were Ebola-free

Research evidence points to a strong correlation between Community-Led Total Sanitation and Open Defecation-Free status and reduced risk of Ebola

Global Communities today released results of a study to examine whether communities in Liberia stood a better chance of resisting Ebola during the outbreak of the past 18 months if they participated in efforts to achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) status. The study confirmed that a representative sample drawn from 284 Liberian communities that achieved ODF status by participating in the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) process were Ebola-free despite their proximity to Ebola hotspots. Communities that began but did not complete the CLTS process also experienced significant protection and were 17 times less likely to experience Ebola Virus Disease infections.

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Ebola Scares Off Trainee Nurses in Liberia

      

Marconi Collins, a nursing student at the Redemption Hospital in Liberia, cares for a patient as part of her internship, despite fears of Ebola.  Photo: Prince Collins/IRIN

irinnews.org - by Prince Collins

MONROVIA, 18 August 2015 (IRIN) - Like hundreds of other nursing students in Liberia, Jerry Songu should have been beginning his internship this month, the final step to graduating and earning his license. Instead, he has chosen to put his studies and future career on hold.

“Ebola has no boundaries,” the 36-year-old, who is in his third year of nursing school at the Caldwell Community Nursing School in the capital Monrovia, told IRIN. “It killed registered nurses and it can also kill practising nurses. So this is nothing to play with.”

“For me, I have resolved to wait until everything [the Ebola outbreak] is totally over,” he said. “My life is important and I must do everything to protect it. Big [senior] doctors died in this country from Ebola and who am I to take the risk? I am just a student. No rush now.”

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The Use of Intraosseous Fluid Resuscitation in a Pediatric Patient with Ebola Virus Disease

jem-journal.com - by Michael L. Paterson and Charles W. Callahan - August 14, 2015

 
Abstract
 
Background

Vomiting, diarrhea, and severe dehydration are common manifestations of Ebola virus disease (EVD), leading to its high mortality. Mortality is especially high in patients older than 45 years, younger than 5 years, and in pregnant women and their fetuses. The majority of patients with EVD are not able to tolerate the quantities of oral hydration solutions necessary to rehydrate properly. Although some have speculated that IV and intraosseous lines are not practical in the austere, resource-constrained settings of an Ebola treatment unit during an epidemic, it is necessary to provide parenteral fluids and electrolyte replacements to significantly decrease mortality. Due to the inability to spend long periods of time working in hot environments wearing personal protective equipment, it is necessary to maximize the use of rapidly obtainable and safe parenteral access.

Case Report
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Laws Prohibiting Bush Meat Are Actually A Boon For The Bush Meat Biz

The dik-dik is a small antelope that is hunted as bush meat. This picture was taken in Voi, a town in southern Kenya. Courtesy of Marcus Bleasdale

Image: The dik-dik is a small antelope that is hunted as bush meat. This picture was taken in Voi, a town in southern Kenya. Courtesy of Marcus Bleasdale

npr.org - August 14th, 2015 - Emily Sohn

Note: This post contains a photo of a monkey carcass, on sale at a bush meat market, that may be disturbing to some readers.

What's for dinner?

Porcupines, giant squirrels, dwarf crocodiles and a variety of primates, including golden-bellied crowned monkeys and Bioko black colobus monkeys.

Those are some of the bush meat offerings at the outdoor covered market in Malabo on Bioko Island, part of Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa.

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Using Public-Private Partnerships to Combat Ebola Globally

           

The Completed Containerized Biocontainment Systems Units at Dobbins Air Force Base, in Marietta, Georgia

blogs.state.gov - by Andrew O'Brien - August 13, 2015

In treating Ebola internationally, U.S. government personnel, doctors, nurses, aid workers, and other global health professionals are often put in direct contact with Ebola, and unfortunately some contract the virus themselves. Yet with limited resources, the U.S. Department of State needed more capacity to safely transport these Ebola patients to treatment facilities. Additionally, availability of medevac is important to getting doctors and epidemiologists from all over the world to volunteer to join the Ebola response.

By partnering with the Paul G. Allen Family Fund we were able to confront this challenge head on. Two containerized medevac biocontainment systems were funded by a $5 million grant by the Paul G. Allen Family Fund and the units were unveiled on August 11th at an event recognizing the partnership. MRIGlobal, a leading research institute, built the units, which are fully equipped to transport four patients, contain a broader array of dangerous pathogens, and fly aboard both military and civilian aircraft to multiple destinations in a single mission.

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How Will We Ensure the New Ebola Vaccine Reaches Those Most in Need?

HUFFINGTON POST  by Director of UNDP’s HIV, Health and Development Group, Bureau of Policy and Programme Support      Aug. 10, 2015                                                                 

 We have reasons to be optimistic about the news of a new tool in the fight against Ebola. As in the fight against HIV, science and solidarity have come together to save lives. The phase III trials on efficacy of the VSV-ZEBOV vaccine have yielded an impressive result in a relatively short time -- 100 percent effectiveness in those receiving the vaccine.

While scientists still need to figure out how long the protective effect of the vaccine lasts, and how effective it will be among the general population and with different strains of the virus, without a doubt this is an important tool for the protection of health and community workers and possibly the wider community. This will certainly help in the on-going efforts to achieve the target of zero new Ebola cases and in overall recovery efforts.

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How to Beat the Next Ebola

submitted by George Hurlburt

             

Graves dug in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to cope with those dying from Ebola in late 2014.  Mads Nissen/Panos

The world is ill-prepared for the next epidemic or pandemic. But the horror of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa may drive change.

nature.com - by Declan Butler - August 5, 2015

If there was one point last year when public-health experts held their breath, it was when a Liberian man infected with Ebola virus flew to Lagos, Nigeria, in July. Ebola was already raging uncontrolled through impoverished countries in West Africa, killing half of those it infected. Now a vomiting man had carried it straight to the heart of Africa's largest megacity — with 21 million inhabitants, many of whom live in slums. Experts were horrified at the prospect that the virus might rip through the city — and then, because Lagos is an international travel hub, spread farther afield.

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Flooded Mines Cause Toxic Sludge in Vietnam

             

The Mong Duong coal mine in Vietnam's Quang Ninh province has flooded, spilling toxic sludge that contaminated land, rivers and coastline  Photo: Luu Quy Doan/Vnexpress

CLICK HERE - SITUATION REPORTS - United Nations - Vietnam

United Nations - irinnews.org - by Vu Duy - August 7, 2015

HANOI, 7 August 2015 (IRIN) - Toxic sludge that spilled out of open pit coal mines during 10 days of heavy rains may have seriously contaminated farmland, rivers and coastal areas in northern Vietnam.

Flooding has killed 30 people, wiped out roads and damaged thousands of homes, the United Nations said in a situation report on Wednesday. The UN also warned of potential risks to the environment, health and water sanitation after coal mines in Quang Ninh province flooded, spilling thick streams of dark sludge into the countryside.

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Rapid Assessment of Ebola-Related Implications for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Service Delivery and Utilization in Guinea

currents.plos.org

Barden-O'Fallon J, Barry MA, Brodish P, Hazerjian J. Rapid Assessment of Ebola-Related Implications for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Service Delivery and Utilization in Guinea. PLOS Currents Outbreaks. 2015 Aug 4 . Edition 1. doi: 10.1371/currents.outbreaks.0b0ba06009dd091bc39ddb3c6d7b0826.

Abstract

Introduction: Since March 2014, Guinea has been in the midst of the largest, longest, and deadliest outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease ever recorded. Due to sub-optimal health conditions prior to the outbreak, Guinean women and children may have been especially vulnerable to worsening health care conditions. A rapid assessment was conducted to better understand how the delivery and utilization of routine RMNCH services may have been affected by the extraordinary strain placed on the health system and its client population by the Ebola outbreak in Guinea.

CLICK HERE - Rapid Assessment of Ebola-Related Implications for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Service Delivery and Utilization in Guinea

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