Eric Gweah, 25, grieves as he watches members of a burial team carry the body of his father, Ofori Gweah, 62 in Monrovia, Liberia.  Photo - Daniel Berehulak

nytimes - by Rick Gladstone - February 5, 2015

Officials from the United Nations and the World Health Organization expressed concern on Thursday over data showing the first weekly rise in new Ebola cases this year, countering the downward trend in the disease that has ravaged three West African nations.

The 124 new cases — 39 in Guinea, five in Liberia and 80 in Sierra Leone for the week ended Feb. 1 — amounted to a relatively small increase from the 99 new cases the week before, and paled in comparison with the hundreds of new cases per week that traumatized those countries and alarmed the world in the later months of 2014. . .

. . . However, the weekly increase in new cases, although small, was worrisome for a few reasons, said Dr. Bruce Aylward, the World Health Organization special representative on Ebola, and Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations special envoy on Ebola.

submitted by George Hurlburt

The Kabia family grieves as the body of their day-old daughter is removed from their home in the Hill Cut neighborhood of Freetown, Sierra Leone, by a member of a safe burial team. The government mandates that all deaths in Ebola-infested districts be treated as potential Ebola cases and buried in accordance with safety procedures.
Photograph by Pete Muller, Prime for National Geographic

To stop infected bodies from spreading the disease in Sierra Leone, health officials persuaded local leaders to change how villagers mourned.

nationalgeographic.com - by Amy Maxmen - January 30, 2015

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone—A great quarrel followed the death of a pregnant Guinean woman in June. Mourners refused to allow a team of outsiders dressed in what looked like white space suits to bury her Ebola-infected corpse. If she was to be saved from eternal wandering and reach the village of the dead, they insisted, her fetus must be removed.

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THOMPSON REUTERS By Misha Hussain                   Feb. 4, 2015

CONAKRY -- Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) made the "big mistake" of focusing too much on treatment early on in the Ebola epidemic rather than speaking to people about tackling the disease, a senior member of the medical charity said.

 ...With 20 years of experience of treating Ebola, MSF deployed hundreds to the Ebola "hot zones" and was quick to isolate patients and trace their contacts.

However, Claudia Evers, MSF's Ebola emergency coordinator in Guinea, said: "MSF made a big mistake. We advocated for an increase in beds for too long, and everyone listened to MSF."

"Instead of asking for more beds we should have asked for more sensitisation activities," Evers told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview. Evers said the next stage of the Ebola response required a new approach if the disease was to be brought under control, centred on the promotion of good hygiene practices.

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http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN0L81SM20150204?sp=true

REUTERS    by Kate Kelland                                                                                 Feb. 3, 2014

LONDON  - Almost $2.9 billion was pledged by the end of 2014 in donations to fight West Africa's Ebola epidemic, yet only around 40 percent had actually reached affected countries, researchers said on Tuesday.

A study by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that tracked international donations showed barely $1.09 billion had reached the worst affected countries by the end of last year, they said.

"These delays ... may have contributed to spread of the virus and could have increased the financial needs," said Karen Grepin, a global health policy expert at New York University who led the study and published it in the BMJ British medical journal.

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http://news.yahoo.com/only-40-percent-ebola-funds-reached-target-countries-233343915.html

Link to full study.

International donations to the Ebola virus outbreak: too little, too late?

BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL   by  Karen A Grépin                                                      Feb. 3, 2015