We begin with a devastating but unsurprising assessment via the Thomson Reuters Foundation:
IMF focus on cutting debt over health spending worsened Ebola in Africa – study
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was partially responsible for the scale of the Ebola crisis in three West African countries as its policies hampered healthcare spending in these post-conflict states, according to a new study.
Conditions on IMF loans to Guinea, Sierra Leona and Liberia over the past two decades prioritised debt repayments and building foreign exchange reserves over healthcare spending, said research by professors from three leading UK universities.
The study comes amid mounting criticism about the slow response to the world’s worst outbreak of Ebola that has killed nearly 8,000 people and increasing scrutiny on how organisations could have acted differently to prevent this.
“Policies advocated by the IMF have contributed to under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems in the countries with Ebola outbreaks,” said Alexander Kentikelenis, a Cambridge University sociology professor and an author of the study published in the Lancet Global Health journal.
And from Reuters, more damage:
Ebola wrecks years of aid work in worst-hit countries
Ebola is wrecking years of health and education work in Sierra Leone and Liberia following their civil wars, forcing many charity groups to suspend operations or re-direct them to fighting the epidemic.
More than a decade of peace and quickening economic growth had raised hopes that the nations could finally reduce their dependency on foreign aid and budgetary support; now Ebola has undermined those achievements, charity workers and officials say.
“The impact of Ebola will take us completely back to it being a basket case,” said Rocco Falconer, CEO of educational charity Planting Promise in Sierra Leone. “The impact on some activities have been simply catastrophic.”
The two countries worst hit by Ebola have struggled to recover from the wars that raged through the 1990s until early in the 21st century, killing and maiming tens of thousands, and devastating already poor infrastructure.
Next, a new public service spot, complete with Jennifer Lawrence, from www.EbolaSurvivalFund.org:
ESF #MisinformationHack – Focus
Program notes:
The Ebola Survival Fund will support a coalition of community-based organizations working in Liberia and Sierra Leone in order to complement the efforts of the larger-scale programs being implemented by international organizations. All programming funded by the Ebola Survival Fund will support existing national plans in both Liberia and Sierra Leone in coordination with the United Nations Ebola response effort in order to fill key gaps in communities in rural areas. The Ebola Survival Fund is grateful to UNICEF for its support.
Partners In Health, BRAC, Wellbody Alliance, Last Mile Health, Shine On Sierra Leone, Taia Peace Foundation & Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa are joining forces to crush Ebola now.
With your support, we can bring a permanent end to this epidemic. We can increase survival rates and assist Liberian and Sierra Leonean communities and community-focused groups in their efforts to respond to the crisis, survive…then thrive.
For more information, please visit: www.EbolaSurvivalFund.org
Focusing on borders with the United Nations Development Program:
UNDP to help cut cross border Ebola infections in West Africa
UNDP is set to help the Liberian government build new border posts to cut cross-border Ebola infections from Sierra Leone.
Infections in Liberia’s Eastern border region have spiked recently as tight nit cross-border communities spread the disease across the often porous border. 49 new cases have been recorded in the border county of Grand Cape Mount in December, including 12 in the past four days.
UNDP Country Director Kamil Kamaluddeen said that in order to stop this new spread of Ebola into Liberia, borders must be properly patrolled and border officials need the right protection against the disease.
“The official border crossings from Sierra Leone into Grand Cape Mount are all patrolled, however, there are a number of places where it’s possible to cross without detection” he said.
From the U.N. News Center, proposing a strategy:
Fight against Ebola requires district-by-district approach – head of UN response mission
The outgoing head of the head of the United Nations Emergency Ebola Response Mission (UNMEER) said today that communities are going to play a big role in defeating the “nasty disease” in West Africa by stamping out outbreaks while they are small and not allowing them to become bigger.
“Ebola is a very nasty disease, and it’s going to present us with some very unpleasant surprises I fear going forward,” Anthony Banbury told UN Radio in Monrovia, Liberia. “And that’s why we really need to strengthen our capabilities.”
“What’s so important is that we have good surveillance on the ground so we can have early detection of any outbreak and a rapid response capability so that any outbreak that is detected we can stamp quickly while it is a small outbreak and not allow it to become a big outbreak,” Mr. Banbury said.
Mr. Banbury, who is ending his tour of duty on 3 January 2015, met with Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf during his two-day visit to Liberia and said he was “extremely pleased” with the progress he saw on the ground when he visited an area which has suffered from the outbreak.
BuzzFeed News looks at origins:
Report: Boy At Center Of Ebola Outbreak Likely Infected By Bats
A scientific report published today suggests that the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa was triggered after bats infected a Guinean boy last year
Emile Ouamouno, the first known victim of the current Ebola outbreak plaguing West Africa, may have been infected while hunting or playing with a colony of bats in a tree in Guinea, according to a report published in a German scientific journal Tuesday.
The two-year-old boy, who died in December 2013, is known as patient zero of the Ebola outbreak.
According to the study published in the EMBO Molecular Medicine journal, “the severe Ebola virus disease epidemic occurring in West Africa likely stems from a single zoonotic transmission event involving a 2-year-old boy in Meliandou, Guinea, who might have been infected by hunting or playing with insectivorous free-tailed bats living in a nearby hollow tree.”
The scientists conducted an eight-day expedition to Meliandou, a small village of 31 houses.They said they found a large tree which was frequented by children, according to the villagers who reportedly burned it in March and collected a “rain of bats” for consumption. The free-tailed bats were disposed the next day after a ban on bushmeat.
More from Science:
Bat-filled tree may have been ground zero for the Ebola epidemic
The source of the ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa may have been a hollow tree where children played—and bats roosted. In a visit to Meliandou, the Guinean village where the outbreak apparently started, researchers learned of the tree and linked it to one of the outbreak’s first victims. But, in a frustrating twist, the tree had burned to a stump just before they arrived, thwarting their search for evidence that might confirm the scenario.
A year ago, a toddler in Meliandou died of a mysterious disease; soon, his sister, mother, and grandmother were infected as well. As far as epidemiologists can tell, the family members were the first people to die in West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, which according to the latest statistics from the World Health Organization has now sickened more than 20,000 people and killed at least 7842. But how the toddler caught the virus has been a puzzle. Before the current outbreak, there was only a single known human case of Ebola in West Africa.
Human Ebola outbreaks elsewhere have been linked to outbreaks in wildlife—including duikers (small antelope), gorillas, and chimpanzees—or traced to hunters who butchered animals found dead in the forest. No one knows which animals provide the natural reservoir for Ebola, but bats are leading suspects. Several types of bats can survive experimental infection with the virus, and researchers have found Ebola virus RNA in at least three species of fruit bats. That made the animals—commonly hunted and eaten in Guinea—a top contender as the source of the outbreak.
And the New York Times maps the spread of contagion:
The Path of the Ebola Virus Outbreak
Program notes:
A look at how the disease spread far beyond Meliandou, Guinea in just a few months.
The New York Times covers the first Ebola case diagnosed in Britain:
Ebola Patient Is Moved to London, and 2 Others Are Tested in Britain
A health worker who returned from West Africa and was found to have Ebola when she arrived home in Scotland was transferred on Tuesday to Britain’s designated treatment center for the disease in London.
The authorities also reported that two more people were being tested for the virus.
The sudden flurry of episodes involving travelers from countries at the center of the Ebola epidemic raised questions about screening procedures at British airports, where passengers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are supposed to be scrutinized for symptoms of Ebola, such as high temperatures.
The patient in the confirmed case in Scotland was identified in British news reports as Pauline Cafferkey. She had returned to Glasgow on Sunday after working since November with the charity Save the Children in Sierra Leone.
More from BBC News:
Ebola nurse may be offered recovered patients’ plasma
Nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who is battling Ebola at a London hospital, could be offered plasma from patients who have survived the virus.
The treatment contains antibodies that should help fight the infection.
British nurse William Pooley has donated plasma, Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies confirmed. Other available treatments include antiviral drugs, but there are no stocks left of ZMapp – the drug used to treat Mr Pooley.
He recovered from Ebola in September after being treated at the Royal Free Hospital, in Hampstead, north London, where Ms Cafferkey is currently being cared for.
And a lesson to be learned from the Independent:
Ebola in UK: Doctor who flew home with sick nurse sounds alarm over ‘disorganised’ UK screening
The screening process for the deadly Ebola virus at Britain’s airports is to be reviewed after a doctor who travelled back to the UK with the Scottish nurse suffering from the disease described staff as “disorganised” and “inadequately prepared”.
Dr Martin Deahl sat next to Pauline Cafferkey on a flight to Heathrow as they returned from five weeks tackling Ebola in Sierra Leone. Mrs Cafferkey, a 39-year-old public health nurse, became ill on her return to Glasgow and was last night receiving specialist treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in north London.
Dr Deahl, who was among a group of 30 NHS volunteers helping with the fight against Ebola, which has so far killed more than 7,800 people, questioned the effectiveness of the screening process at Britain’s largest airport.
After the jump, on to Sierra Leone and the local impact of that British patient’s diagnosis, a presidential declaration of seven days of prayer and fasting, on to Liberia and a new outbreak, another new hot spot, yet another new case-spawning hot spot [a church], secret societies with washing rituals defy presidential bans, a new Ebola cemetery replaces a feared crematorium, and a new public education campaign is launched, plus an epidemic’s impact on an Ethiopian airline. . .
And those Sierra Leone impacts from the Guardian:
UK Ebola patient’s infection a fresh setback for Sierra Leone clinic
Kerry Town’s UK-funded treatment centre opened amid fanfare last month, but critics say expectations were always too high
The Kerry Town Ebola treatment centre stands alone in a large clearing in the Sierra Leonean forest, about an hour’s drive from the capital, Freetown. It is reminiscent of tuberculosis sanatoria built in Victorian times well away from cities, both to give the patients the benefits of nature and to protect everybody else from infection.
All the Ebola treatment centres that have sprung up in west Africa are recognisable by their white tented structures, but Kerry Town, begun early on by the Sierra Leonean military under orders from the Ministry of Health and now run by Save the Children, has a line of walled buildings that look at least semi-permanent. These are the wards, secured behind two layers of fencing to make sure there can be no physical contact between those with Ebola and visitors or staff who are not wearing the spacesuit-style protective clothing.
Kerry Town bustles. It has a sizable contingent of NHS volunteers, around 20 Cuban doctors and many local staff too. The staff room is full. There is a cartoon drawing of a human on the wall with body parts labelled in English and Spanish. There are lists of teams for each shift through the day and the night as well – three nationalities on each shift. It seems less formal than some of the other treatment centres, where a quasi-military discipline appears to be enforced. But the procedures have to be exactly the same – it is the only way to stay safe.
A presidential declaration of seven days of prayer and fasting, via StarAfrica:
Ebola: S/Leone to declare 7-day national prayer
Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma is set to announce a seven-day national prayer and fasting to invoke God’s mercy in the fight against the Ebola epidemic.
The office of the President said Tuesday that this would be “part of the engagement to break the chain of transmission of the spreading disease”.
President Koroma Tuesday expressed the need to heighten the national response against the epidemic by calling for one week of fasting and prayer during a meeting at State House with representatives of the Inter-Religious Council.
President Koroma, according to the statement, said Sierra Leoneans should start the New Year by committing the nation in prayers and fasting for a “divine direction and grace”.
On to Liberia and a new outbreak from the Liberian Observer:
Cape Mount Gets New ETU
As More Confirmed Cases Emerge in the County
With the alarming cases of the deadly Ebola virus in Grand Cape Mount County, the Liberian Government’s Incident Management System (IMS) and partners have officially opened the newly constructed Ebola Treatment Unit in Sinje, Grand Cape Mount County.
Speaking at the dedicatory ceremony of the ETU, the head of the Cape Mount County Health Team (CHT), Dr. Larain Cooper, explained that because the county is now in the limelight of the deadly virus, it is very important for all the villages and towns to be focused on combating the epidemic.
According to her, for the past few weeks, Grand Cape Mount has been flying the highest number of Ebola cases nationwide. She hoped that with the opening of the treatment unit and support from the government and partners, the fight against Ebola would be completed.
Another new hot spot from the Monrovia Inquirer:
Virus Kills 12-Yr Old In Nimba; Several Quarantined For 21 Days
In a related development, the Medical Director at the Ganta ETU in Nimba County has disclosed that the deadly Ebola virus has killed a 12- year old girl in the Yekepa region.
Disclosing this on the RKFM Community Radio in Ganta, the Medical Director assigned at the Ganta ETU, Dr. Paye Gbeinmie said Ebola has resurfaced in Yekepa thus, killing a 12-year old girl.
He said the County Health Team has Quarantined 48 persons who came in contact with the little girl in Yekepa, Nimba County.
In an interview with The INQUIRER via mobile phone from the Ganta ETU, Dr.Gbeinmie said that after few days the girl died from the deadly virus at the center.
He told this paper that the mother of the girl was confirmed positive of the virus and is presently at the ETU undergoing medical treatment. “For the past three months there has been no report of the deadly virus in the county,” Dr. Gbeinmie in formed the paper in Ganta over the weekend.
Yet another new case-spawning hot spot, this time a church in Monrovia, via FrontPageAfrica:
‘Work of Devil’: New Ebola Epicenter on Liberia’s Street
The World Resurrection Ministries located on Gurley Street in the heart of Monrovia, was a scene of exasperation on Monday when active case finders poured on the church to get to the bottom of reported Ebola cases among members of the church. Despite the sign that reads: “Bye Bye to Ebola” senior members of the church and one of its pastors have been quarantined as a result of its members dying from the deadly disease, while some are still receiving treatment in Ebola Treatment Units around Monrovia.
It all started when a Pastor of the church went out to pray for someone who was sick and that person too became sick. Later the disease began to spread to other members of the church when one member who was sick came to church one Sunday and vomited in the church. One senior member of the church took the sick person to his house to care for him and the sick person vomited on the senior member’s wife leading the wife to also get sick according to the active case finders. The case finders and contact tracers found that the church had a night service of prayer, which was attended by many and the pastors, including those who contracted the disease, used the same microphone that night.
A member of the church name withheld, who is currently being followed up by contact tracers said he was the one who encouraged the sick members to turn themselves over to the ETU for treatment. The contact, which currently resides on the Old Road in Sinkor, said that he took the sick members of the church to the hospital in his car. He said health workers at three health facilities refused to take the sick because they were not sure they had Ebola. He said he then took them in his vehicle to the ETU and health workers sprayed the car before he came home. He said that he is also observing a period of 21 days to be sure he does not have Ebola.
The secret Poro and Sande societies defy bans and continue to meet, via FrontPageAfrica:
Poro & Sande Practices Persist in the Midst of Ebola in Liberia
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has with immediate effect suspended operations of Poro and Sande activities in Liberia, threatening that violators will be prosecuted and groves shut down. The Ministry in a statement says its attention has been drawn to reports of the continued operation of Poro and Sande societies in several parts of the country as it declared the acts as a violation of the moratorium placed on the operation of Poro and Sande Societies on June 2, 2014.
The release further stated that the Ministry of Internal Affairs through its Bureau of Customs and Culture and in collaboration with the National Council of Chiefs and Elders recently announced the immediate suspension of all Poro and Sande activities throughout Liberia. The Ministry said its decision was intended to ensure that there was no outbreak of the Ebola virus in any Poro or Sande grove in Liberia.
The statement signed by Minister Morris Dukuly, said the continued operation of Poro and Sande Societies in the face of the Ebola epidemic exposes citizens to increase incidents of the virus and untimely death, and therefore directed that all such practices must cease and be seen to have ceased by September 17, 2014.
The government yields to popular pressure, via the Liberian Observer:
Cremation Abolished
Gov’t Inaugurates New National Cemetery
The much frowned upon practice of cremating dead bodies in Liberia is now a thing of the past as the government has now abolished the act.
In doing away with the highly unpopular incineration of the dead, the government has provided an alternative by establishing a new national cemetery for the purpose of burying Ebola victims and others.
Cremation of dead bodies is not and has never been a part of the Liberian culture, but the Liberian government was forced, during the heat of the Ebola crisis, to initiate the practice in an effort to curtail further spread of the virus.
Cremation was, however, met with a barrage of criticism and resistance from the public. Many families hid the corpses of their relatives and performed secret burials to evade cremation.
The government said that the Ebola Virus Disease had become hard to contain in all parts of the country because some Liberians do not want the bodies of their relatives and friends who had fallen prey to the virus, to be burnt (cremated).
And a new public education campaign is launched, via Heritage:
UNICEF partners with PCC, MCC to End Ebola
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has begun a partnership with the Paynesville City Corporation (PCC) and the Monrovia City Corporation in a joint effort to eradicate the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
As part of the partnership, UNICEF will provide funding for initiatives of the two city corporations to increase sensitization against the virus. The program, which will last for the next 90 days (three months), is named and styled: “Operation stop Ebola.”
Speaking during a meeting with the two city corporations on Friday, December 26, the Communication for Development Specialist at UNICEF, Mr. Adolphus Scott, said the two cities (Paynesville and Monrovia) were chosen because they are the biggest and most populous in the country.
Despite the huge decline of the virus in the country, he said Montserrado County still remains the hardest hit county in term of transmission of the virus.
Plus more collateral damage from AllAfrica:
West Africa: Ebola Pandemic Affects Asky’s Operation
Ethiopian Airlines affiliate airline in west Africa, ASKY Airlines’, operation is seriously affected by the spread of Ebola virus disease (EVD).
The Lome, Togo-based private airline, ASKY, operates in 22 destinations in West and Central Africa. The pan-African airline operates in the region most affected by the Ebola pandemic at the moment.
Following the outbreak of EVD, ASKY has canceled flights to Conakry, Guinea, Monrovia, Liberia and Freetown, Sierra Leon. The airline has also suspended flights to Abuja and Lagos for about ten days last September. The airline recommenced operation to Conakry as of December 1. It hopes to resume flights to more destinations soon.
