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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
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Homebound Filipino troops from Liberia Ebola-free

ASSOCIATED PRESS                                        NOV. 9. 2014

 MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military said Sunday that 108 of its peacekeepers have tested negative for Ebola in Liberia, but that they will still be shipped to a small island in Manila Bay when they fly home this week for 21 more days of quarantine....

The Philippines has decided to halt the deployment of its troops to the West African nation amid the deadly Ebola outbreak there, ending more than a decade of peacekeeping work under the United Nations.

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https://news.yahoo.com/homebound-filipinos-troops-liberia-ebola-free-055443426.html

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White House mulls using robots to fight Ebola outbreak

How robots could be used to fight Ebola    

(Two stories, scroll down)

TECH  TIMES                                               Nov. 9, 2014
Dianne Depra

With the Ebola virus claiming nearly 5,000 lives, it's understandable why the White House is now considering options outside of traditional means to help curb the outbreak, enlisting robot technology to join in the fight.

Officials gathered together specialists on Nov. 7, holding discussions at University of California, Berkeley, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Texas A&M University to talk about how robots can be utilized to aid health workers in West Africa.

The day was intended to inspire research committees in various sectors to assess how they may be able to take advantage of innovation and technology and assist the international effort against Ebola, according to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

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Morocco Insists on Delaying African Cup Over Ebola

ASSOCIATED PRESS                                   Nov. 8, 2014

REBAT-- Morocco is sticking to its demand to postpone the African Cup of Nations football tournament due to the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, despite pressure from the Confederation of African Football.

A statement from the Ministry of Sports late Saturday said that because of the "spread of the deadly Ebola pandemic," Morocco was maintaining its call for delaying the tournament it is scheduled to host from Jan. 17-Feb. 8, to the following year.

The Confederation of African Football has repeatedly rejected calls to postpone the tournament and last Monday gave Morocco five days to agree to hold the tournament as scheduled or they would reassign it.

The body will meet again on Tuesday to make a final decision on whether the tournament will be delayed or assigned to another country.

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http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/morocco-insists-delaying-african-cup-ebola-26781383

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Funding cuts hamper health agencies’ ability to prepare for, respond to Ebola

HOMELAND SECURITY NEWS WIRE                        Nov.7, 2014

Federal and state funds for local health agencies have been cut over the past few years, so when hospitals and municipal health agencies are asked proactively to respond to possible threats of Ebola, many question how they will fund such activities. Since 2008, at least 51,000 state and local public health jobs (roughly 20 percent), have been lost due to cuts in federal funding, according to a new survey by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). Next week, the Senate Committee on Appropriations will hold a hearingto consider additional funding to prepare for an Ebola outbreak.

“It’s critically important to have a sustainable infrastructure, tools and the necessary resources to effectively address all potential health threats to the public, not just Ebola,” said James Blumenstock, emergency preparedness officer for ASTHO. “Public health threats don’t come one at a time, especially this time of year.”

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Military names 5 U.S. bases for troop Ebola quarantines

ASSOCIATED PRESS                                              Nov. 7, 2014
WASHINGTON -- The top U.S. military officer has designated five U.S. bases where American troops would be housed and isolated for 21 days upon returning from Africa after serving in the Ebolaresponse mission, U.S. officials said Friday.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, signed a plan that lists Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; and Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, as bases where troops would be quarantined.

The U.S. also will use two bases in Italy and Germany for returning troops based in that region....

The plan exempts military personnel who travel to Africa for short-term visits and have very limited contact with people there, such as military staff traveling with a senior official who only stops in the country for a day or two...

In a related announcement, U.S. Northern Command has decided to train 30 more medical support personnel who will be available to help U.S. hospitals with any future Ebola cases. The personnel will begin training in San Antonio, Texas, later this month and will supplement a 30-member team that has already been trained and is ready to respond.

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Ebola Quarantines Lead Potential Volunteers To Reassess Helping

ASSOCIATED PRESS                                                NOV. 8, 2014
By Jennifer Peltz
NEW YORK  .....As Ebola-related quarantine policies have arisen around the United States, some health workers are reassessing whether, or how long, they can be among the hundreds that officials say are needed to fight the outbreak.

Potential volunteers are anxious about what they might come back to, especially after seeing new rules arise so rapidly that nurse Kaci Hickox was sequestered in a medical tent for days because New Jersey announced new regulations the day she flew back from Sierra Leone. Others are facing family qualms. And as the year winds down, some aid workers wonder whether they'll be able to go home for the holidays.

Aid organizations say it's too soon to tell whether quarantine rules are significantly shrinking the number of volunteers, but the measures are complicating an already challenging search for help treating a disease that has killed nearly 5,000 people, including about 310 health care workers.

Some potential volunteers are wary of not only being quarantined but being seen as potential disease-carriers, rather than conscientious professionals.

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Ebola outbreak: Africa sets up $28.5m crisis fund

BBC                                                   Nov. 8 2014

Top African business leaders have established an emergency fund to help countries hit by the Ebola outbreak.

A pledging meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, raised $28.5m to deploy at least 1,000 health workers to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia..... 

It is not clear why exactly the number of cases in Liberia has dipped - but it has been running an awareness campaign to advertise best health practices and install hand washing stations.

Speaking at the end of the Addis Abada meeting, African Union chairman Dlamini Zuma said the resources mobilised would be part of a longer term programme to deal with such outbreaks in the future.

The chairman of telecommunications giant Econet Wireless, Strive Masiyiwa, said that several companies had pledged money to the emergency fund - to be managed by the African Development Bank.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29967124

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Infection Secrets of Ebola Explained

By attacking the body's first responders, the virus cripples the immune system before it can mount an effective defense

Researchers often describe the battle between the Ebola virus and the humans it occasionally infects as a race—one that people win only if their immune systems manage to pull ahead before the virus destroys too many of their internal defenses. What they may not know is that the virus is a cheat.

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Guinea Is Seeing More Ebola Cases: Can The Trend Be Stopped?

NPR                                                                                                                                   Nov. 7, 2014

By Jason Beaubien
CONAKRY  Guinea-- In the current Ebola crisis, much of the focus has been on Liberia and Sierra Leone. But the virus also continues to spread in Guinea, where the first case in the current outbreak was identified in March.

Red Cross workers in Guinea carry the body of an Ebola victim to a cemetery full of fresh graves for others who have succumbed to the disease.

According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, Guinea has had fewer cases than either Sierra Leone (4,759) or Liberia (6,525). WHO has recorded 1,731 Ebola cases and 1,041 deaths in Guinea. This, however, is just a few dozen fatalities fewer than in Sierra Leone. And despite the lower numbers in Guinea, some data suggest the outbreak is spreading faster there than in the neighboring countries.

Q&A with Marc Poncin, response coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Conakry, Guinea:

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UN releases manual for safe Ebola burials

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS                                     NOV. 17, 2014

BERLIN  The World Health Organization has released a 17-page manual detailing how to safely bury people who have died from Ebola.

The U.N. agency said Friday the guidelines are part of an effort to reduce the likelihood of people contracting Ebola from corpses.

WHO Ebola expert Pierre Formenty says at least one in five infections occur during burials.

The guidelines give step-by-step advice to health workers for both Christian and Muslim burials.

See complete article
http://news.yahoo.com/un-releases-manual-safe-ebola-burials-154352654.html

See WHO manual

http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/137379/1/WHO_EVD_GUIDANCE_Burials_14.2_eng.pdf?ua=1

http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/ebola/safe-burial-protocol/en/

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