Africa Resilience Initiative

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Sat, 2009-03-21 11:57 — mdmcdonald

The mission of this working group is to articulate and shape issues of resilience and sustainability on the continent of Africa as they may be implemented as reforms of current policies, as well as contemplate and make recommendations for more extensive critiques and proposals for national, provincial, and local systems transformation, as may be necessary or desirable beyond the scope of traditional reforms being undertaken by the current African national governments and local government proposals in Africa.

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This working group is focused on developing an Africa Resilience Initiative to ensure resilience and sustainability for all Africans.

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Aboubacar Conte	admin	Anthony	bnorton	Carrielaj	Chisina Kapungu
ChrisAllen	craig.sevcik	Dr Ojia Adamolekun	efrost	Elhadj Drame	Grace Kim
Hadiatou Balde	jranck	Kathy Gilbeaux	mdmcdonald	MDMcDonald_me_com	mike kraft
njchapman	Norea	SmShako	TacarraB	Tjivekumba Kandjii

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Ebola Fighters Say Now Is Not the Time to Let Up

Fri, 2015-04-17 09:15 — mike kraft

Cases may be nearing zero in certain areas, but the threat of the disease lingers

TIME MAGAZINE by Maya Rhodan April 16, 2015

There were only 37 confirmed cases of Ebola last week, just a year after the deadly virus was spreading quickly across Western Africa. But key stakeholders in the effort to reduce the number of cases to zero said Thursday that success is not guaranteed.

President Barack Obama, flanked by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, left, and Guinean President Alpha Condé, speaks in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, to discuss the progress made in the international Ebola response. Manuel Balce Ceneta—AP

“We are dealing now with the most difficult areas,” said Bruce Aylward, the assistant director-general of polio and emergencies at the World Health Organization. “We’re dealing with issues of fear, of trust with communities that have been marginalized. That have not been fully engaged.”

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Turning the Page on Ebola

Thu, 2015-04-16 15:28 — mike kraft

Joint Statement by Presidents Alpha Condé of Guinea, Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone. and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia

PROJECT SYNDICATE COMMENTARY April 16, 2015

....The uncontrolled spread of the disease exposed the shortcomings of our national health care systems, as well as regional and global institutions’ weak capacity for coordination and effective response. Simply put, we were ill prepared to cope with, much less prevent, an outbreak on this scale.

We bear a collective responsibility for the thousands of lives lost to Ebola and the tens of thousands affected by the disease. And, today, thanks to institutional improvement and adaptation, we are closer to winning the fight against Ebola. Although the disease has not been contained and eradicated throughout the region, its spread has slowed; now we have to start planning our recovery, which must include strengthening the national, regional, and international systems that protect our people’s lives and futures....

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Ebola Hit Liberia rebuilds devastated child health care system

Thu, 2015-04-16 11:50 — mike kraft

AFP by Zoom Dosso april 16, 2015
Monrovia - Estella Verdier keeps vigil by her sick four-month-old grandson's hospital bed, praying for his recovery but placing her faith in the earthly healing powers of Liberia's first ever children's hospital.

A woman sits next to her baby on April 7, 2015 in Liberia's first ever children's hospital, just opened in Monrovia by Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), part of the country's response to the daunting challenge of repairing its wrecked health service (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)

The 46-bed unit, just opened in Monrovia by Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), is part of the country's response to the challenge of repairing its wrecked health service as it emerges from the nightmare of Ebola...

With its Ebola clinics now empty, Liberia's priority is curing the ailing healthcare system.

"We basically decided to come and help the medical system in the effort of restoration after Ebola hit," MSF project coordinator Ondrej Horvath told AFP.

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Avoiding Ebola – how this Chiefdom in Sierra Leone did it

Thu, 2015-04-16 11:11 — mike kraft

UNICEF CONNECT blogs.unicef.org April 15, 2015

by Margaret James, a Health Officer with UNICEF, Sierre Leone

When I first heard in February that Lugbu chiefdom was one of the few in Bo District, Sierra Leone, that had not recorded a single case of Ebola, my interest was immediately triggered. On 2 March 2015 we got to visit the chiefdom’s main town, Sumbuya, for several hours of meetings with local leaders, youth, a traditional healer and business people to find out more.

Lugbu chiefdom has several entry points and can be accessed by both land and water. (c)UNICEF Sierra Leone

In our quest for answers, we got permission from the local Paramount Chief, (PC) Mohamed Allie Nallo, who gave his blessing and got in touch with key people to help us in our research. We held group meetings, one-on-one interviews and even carried out spot visits.

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Young people played a game-changing role in the battle against Ebola in Liberia

Wed, 2015-04-15 12:42 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Ashoka Mukpo April 24, 2015

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Archie Gbessay, 28, stands at an intersection in Monrovia’s West Point neighbourhood next to a stall where mobile-phone recharge scratch cards are sold. Across the street is a school that, in August 2014, became the focus of Liberia’s Ebola crisis. It was being used as a holding centre for Ebola victims when enraged residents broke through its iron gate and released patients.

Youngsters in the township of West Point take a leading role in the effort to bring the Ebola outbreak in Liberia under control. Photograph: Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA

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Crowdsourced Mapping Could Help Prevent the Next Big Ebola Outbreak

Wed, 2015-04-15 11:20 — mike kraft

TAKEPART.COM by Jessica Dollin April 14, 2015

Ebola dominated headlines this past year, but the epicenter of the outbreak wasn’t on a map until after the virus had infected and killed thousands. Without geographical resources, aid workers were tasked with the challenge of navigating remote areas to locate people in need of assistance.

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Assessment of the Effect of Ebola on Education in Liberia - February 2015

Tue, 2015-04-14 20:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Carrie La Jeunesse

CLICK HERE - Assessment of the Effect of Ebola on Education in Liberia - February 2015
(47 page .PDF report)

educationcluster.net - February 26, 2015

Following the Ebola outbreak, schools in Liberia were ordered closed in July 2014. They remained closed for more than 7 months, until the start of the school year 2014/2015, from 16 February onwards. In order to determine the impact of Ebola on education in Liberia, the Ministry of Education (MoE) and partners agreed to conduct a Joint Education Needs Assessment aimed at informing a) The reopening of the schools at the national, county and district level, and b) The upcoming education sector review.

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Liberia succeeds in fighting Ebola with local, sector response

Tue, 2015-04-14 11:21 — mike kraft

WHO April 14, 2015
The story of how Liberia’s most populous county, Montserrado, turned around an exponentially-growing Ebola outbreak is intriguing. WHO’s team and national officials, aided by veterans from WHO’s polio eradication group in India, decentralized the response, using quality management principles that empowered local teams and held them accountable for results.

WHO /Aphaluck Bhatiasevi

These local sector teams involved more than 4,000 community members, using business best practices and an incident management system to vastly improve surveillance, case finding, contact tracing, and overall management of key response activities.
Read full account.
http://www.who.int/features/2015/ebola-sector-approach/en/

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Community-Centered Responses to Ebola in Urban Liberia: The View from Below

Mon, 2015-04-13 17:35 — mike kraft

PLOS by Saron Alane Abramowitz, Kristen E. McLean and others, April 9, 2015

The West African Ebola epidemic has demonstrated that the existing range of medical and epidemiological responses to emerging disease outbreaks is insufficient, especially in post-conflict contexts with exceedingly poor healthcare infrastructures.

In this context, community-based responses have proven vital for containing Ebola virus disease (EVD) and shifting the epidemic curve. Despite a surge in interest in local innovations that effectively contained the epidemic, the mechanisms for community-based response remain unclear.

This study provides baseline information on community-based epidemic control priorities and identifies innovative local strategies for containing EVD in Liberia.
Read complete study.

http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0003706

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Empty Ebola Clinics in Liberia Are Seen as Misstep in U.S. Relief Effort

Sun, 2015-04-12 09:15 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES by NORIMITSU ONISHI April 12, 2015

MONROVIA, Liberia — As bodies littered the streets and the sick lay dying in front of overwhelmed clinics last year, President Obama ordered the largest American intervention ever in a global health crisis, hoping to stem the deadliest Ebola epidemic in history.