WHO, UN urges international community to escalate Ebola response by WHO, MSF, Save the Children, agencies 5:27am 15th Oct, 2014   15 Oct 2014    Ebola infections could reach up to 10,000 a week, World Health Organisation warns.    The World Health Organisation is warning the number of people being infected with Ebola in West Africa could reach up to 10,000 a week by the end of the year.    WHO assistant director general Bruce Aylward said the disease was still spreading in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, with the number of cases in West Africa to exceed 9,000 this week.    The death toll so far in the outbreak, first reported in Guinea in March, had reached 4,447 from a total of 8,914 cases, he said.    While there were signs that rates of infection were slowing in some of the worst-hit areas, Mr Aylward said the disease has now reached "more districts, counties and prefectures" than it had a month ago, and said case numbers would continue to rise.    He said WHO projections suggested there may be between 5,000 and 10,000 new cases a week.    "It could be higher, it could lower but it''s going to be in that ball park," he told reporters from WHO''s Geneva headquarters.    So far the vast majority of the fatalities have occurred in just 19 districts of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.    The WHO has repeatedly said Ebola cases are under-reported in the three hardest-hit countries, and that understanding the scale and pace of the outbreak is crucial to stopping it.    9 October 2014    UN urges international community to escalate Ebola response amid worsening outbreak    The international community must “step up” its response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa before it gets much worse, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed today , adding that a range of measures – from extra financing to increased medical assistance – were essential in helping the countries afflicted by the disease.    In remarks made at a special meeting focusing on the Ebola virus and held at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., the Secretary-General noted that while dozens of countries are providing life-saving contributions and forming the “building blocks for a global response coalition,” cases of the disease are “growing exponentially,” as are fears about its spread outside West Africa.    “The best antidote to fear is an effective and urgent response. We need a 20-fold resource mobilization,” Mr. Ban told those gathered, as he called for more mobile laboratories, vehicles, helicopters, protective equipment, trained medical personnel and medevac capacities to be provided in order to stay Ebola’s advance.    In particular, he urged the global community to set five specific priorities, including stopping the outbreak, treating those infected, providing essential services, preserving stability, and preventing outbreaks in non-affected countries.    In a recent update, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reported 8,033 cases and 3,879 deaths from Ebola based on information provided by the Ministries of Health of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The agency notes that the upward epidemic trend continues in Sierra Leone and most probably also in Liberia. By contrast, the situation in Guinea appears to be more stable, though, in the context of an Ebola outbreak, a stable pattern of transmission is still of a very grave concern, and could change quickly.    04 Oct 2014    Ebola outbreak ‘running’ ahead of world’s response, UN warns as funding lags    As the head of the United Nations mission working to stop the Ebola outbreak continued his visit to hard-hit countries in West Africa today, the world body’s humanitarian wing said funding for the international response is lagging, with only 26 per cent of the $988 million needed having been received thus far.    The head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), Anthony Banbury, is in Sierra Leone today on the second leg of his visit to the most affected countries, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reports in New York today.    Mr. Banbury is in West Africa to jumpstart UNMEER’s work. After arriving at the mission’s headquarters in Accra, Ghana, earlier this week, he spent the past two days assessing the situation in Liberia. Next week, he will travel on to Guinea.    Regarding the funding of the response, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today that 26 per cent, or just $256 million, of the total $988 million needed, has been received.    An additional $163 million has been pledged to activities in the plan that covers immediate humanitarian support to the region, particularly Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.    The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has so far committed $13.4 million to support food and health operations as well as the regional humanitarian air service.    Meanwhile, in Geneva today, the World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Director, Denise Brown, briefed the press via audio link from the Liberian capital, Monrovia.    Despite best efforts, “the [Ebola] virus is running faster than the international community,” said Ms. Brown, adding that concerted efforts to get the virus under control had not succeeded- it was way ahead of us, she added.    Calling it an unprecedented situation, Ms. Brown urged the international community to take exceptional measures to collectively get in front of the virus and to stop it.    For its part, WFP is delivering food, planes, helicopters, ships, and flying in aid workers but the virus is spreading exponentially, and the response must increase accordingly. The agency is building two treatment centres in Monrovia which should be ready by the end of October with 400 beds. But several other components must align. For example, as treatments centres are build medical professionals need to come and staff them, she added.    She also expressed concern over increasing food prices, which WFP has been monitoring along with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Both agencies are collecting data and are expected in a week to provide a snapshot of the food security situation.    http://reliefweb.int/report/liberia/ebola-outbreak-running-ahead-world-s-response-un-warns-funding-lags    18 September 2014    The international community must do more to prevent a health catastrophe.    As the UN Security Council meets today for only the second time in history to address a world health emergency, the Ebola crisis continues to devastate communities in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Without concerted and immediate international action to tackle this crisis, the outbreak could see these countries’ hard-fought for progress set back years, bringing the healthcare system to its knees and, for Liberia and Sierra Leone, back to levels not seen since the end of their respective civil wars.    Current reports estimate that over 2,450 people have already lost their lives in West Africa and thousands more are fighting the highly-contagious virus. Recent forecasts put the number of potential infections at 20,000 if nothing is done soon. With no known cure, less than half of those infected are expected to survive.    While millions of children worldwide start their new school year this week, filled with excitement and hope, the classrooms in Ebola-affected countries remain eerily quiet, as communities are forced into quarantine for the foreseeable future. Many other countries in West Africa are currently on alert. Vacant farmland has not been ploughed in time for next year’s harvest, raising real concerns that families will not be able to provide for loved ones over the coming months. Over-crowded rural clinics are being forced to turn away pregnant mothers and young children suffering from malaria, tuberculosis and other life-threatening diseases.    With extremely limited or no medical facilities or trained doctors to help contain the outbreak, the Governments of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone are doing all they can to contain the epidemic. Even before the current crisis, Liberia had just 51 medical doctors to serve a population of 3.7 million people, and Sierra Leone also had one of the lowest number of health workers per capita in the world. All three affected countries are, to varying degrees, still recovering from protracted conflicts and facing challenges posed by widespread poverty. The sheer scale and impact of the Ebola crisis threatens the very progress they have fought so hard to achieve.    As international development organisations, we will continue to do all we can to support the people and Governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, namely by providing highly-trained personnel, medical equipment, and by supporting communities, but we do not yet have the means to respond effectively to an epidemic of this scale.    We welcome the leadership shown by certain Governments so far in responding to the crisis. But a further and massive increase in financing, personnel, and expert capacity is urgently needed if we are serious about stopping the spread of Ebola. Without this, thousands more children, adults, and health workers will die unnecessarily and the long term economic impact of this crisis will be felt for years to come.    We are calling on world leaders to:    Deploy disaster response and specialist medical teams with biohazard capacity to support containment and case management in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.    Increase financial investment to ensure that the WHO Roadmap and UN Overview of Needs and Requirements are fully funded to ensure a scaled-up response.    Commit to investing in and strengthening the healthcare sector, in order to build back stronger, more resilient healthcare systems and communities.    * Joint statement and call to action by Save the Children, Oxfam, Plan, Child Fund, and the Catholic Relief Services.    http://www.savethechildren.net/article/ebola-crisis-could-set-progress-liberia-guinea-and-sierra-leone-back-decade    17 Sept 2014    Ebola crisis: US to send 3,000 troops to Liberia in West Africa as Obama warns virus is "spiralling out of control".    The move came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was establishing a global response coalition to respond to the crisis.    In the last fortnight, the numbers of dead and infected doubled, WHO officials said.    Mr Obama urged the global community to move faster to contain Ebola"s spread.    "Here"s the hard truth. In West Africa, Ebola is now an epidemic, the likes that we have not seen before. It"s spiralling out of control, it"s getting worse," Mr Obama said after meeting with top US public health officials.    His plan calls for sending troops, including engineers and medical personnel, to build 17 treatment centres with 100 beds each, train thousands of healthcare workers and establish a military control centre for coordination of the relief effort, US officials told reporters.    At a press conference in Geneva, WHO and UN officials said an unprecedented surge in the response to the crisis was needed, with the disease now having killed more than 2,470 people out of 4,940 cases in West Africa.    "Quite frankly, this health crisis we face is unparalleled in modern times," WHO assistant director-general Dr Bruce Aylward told reporters.    "The gravity of the situation is difficult to get across with just a few numbers.    "You start to get a sense of the rapid escalation we"re now seeing of the virus, as it moves from what was a linear increase in cases to now almost an exponential increase in cases."    A previous forecast of 20,000 Ebola cases no longer seemed high, Dr Aylward said, as weak West African healthcare systems have buckled from the strain.    "We don"t know where the numbers are going," he said, pointing out that two weeks ago when WHO said it needed the capacity to manage 20,000 cases, that seemed like a lot. That does not seem like a lot today."    Nearly $1 billion is needed to fight the outbreak, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said, more than doubling the organisation"s estimate of less than a month ago.    She warned that "if not dealt with effectively now, Ebola could become a major humanitarian crisis in countries currently affected".    The US response to the crisis includes plans to build 17 treatment centres, train thousands of healthcare workers and establish a military control centre for coordination, US officials told reporters.    The plan will "ensure that the entire international response effort is more effective and helps to scale up to turn the tide in this crisis," a senior administration official said.    The 17 treatment centres will have 100 beds each and be built as soon as possible, an official said.    A site will also be established where military medical personnel will teach some 500 healthcare workers per week for six months or more on how to care for Ebola patients.    9 Sep 2014    The death toll from the worst Ebola outbreak in history has jumped by almost 200 in a single day to at least 2,296, the World Health Organisation says, warning the toll is already likely to be higher.    The WHO said it had recorded 4,293 cases in five West African countries as of September 6.    It still did not have new figures for Liberia, the worst-affected country, suggesting the true toll is already much higher. The WHO said it expects thousands of new cases in Liberia in the next three weeks.    As well as struggling to contain the disease, the organisation is having difficulty compiling data on the number of cases, said Sylvie Briand, the director of WHO"s department of pandemic and epidemic diseases.    "It"s a war against this virus. It"s a very difficult war," she said. "What we try now is to win some battles at least in some places."    The outbreak began last December and has been gathering pace for months, but about 60 per cent of Liberia"s cases and deaths occurred within the last three weeks, the data showed.    In Guinea and Sierra Leone, the other two countries at the centre of the outbreak, only 39 per cent of cases and around 29 per cent of deaths have occurred in the past three weeks, suggesting they are doing better at tackling the outbreak.    The new figures also showed two new suspected cases in Senegal in addition to one previously confirmed case there.    In Nigeria, the overall number of cases fell to 21 from 22, as at least one suspected case turned out not be Ebola.    Liberia"s defence minister has told the United Nations the Ebola outbreak is threatening his country"s existence.    The hardest-hit country is bracing for more catastrophe with an expected upsurge in cases that have already left upwards of 1,200 dead - more than half of those killed by the disease in West Africa.    "Liberia is facing a serious threat to its national existence," minister Brownie Samukai said.    The disease is "now spreading like wild fire, devouring everything in its path," he said.    He said Liberia"s already weak health system is overwhelmed and the country lacks the "infrastructure, logistical capacity, professional expertise and financial resources to effectively address this disease".    3 Sep 2014    Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) president Joanne Liu told a United Nations forum her organisation is completely overwhelmed.    Ms Liu implored countries to rapidly scale up the response to the virus that is outpacing efforts to contain it.    "Médecins Sans Frontières has been ringing alarm bells for months but the response has been too late, too little," she said.    "Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it."    Doctors Without Borders says the global response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been "lethally inadequate".    Ms Liu called on countries with biological disaster response capacity to contribute civilian and military medical personnel.    Since it was detected in the remote jungles of south-eastern Guinea early this year, the Ebola outbreak has killed 1,550 people, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).    More than 3,500 cases of Ebola have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.    The World Health Organisation said this is the largest, most severe and most complex outbreak in the nearly 40 year history of the disease.    It said it will get worse before it gets better, with food shortages soon likely to hit countries being isolated because of fears about the virus.    It asked countries to lift border closures because they"re preventing supplies reaching people in desperate need of food.    Labour shortages and disrupted cross-border trade caused by the deadly Ebola outbreak have also sparked "grave food security concerns" in West Africa.    The UN"s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has issued a special alert for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, saying the epidemic has put harvests at risk and sent food prices soaring.    "Access to food has become a pressing concern for many people in the three affected countries and their neighbours," said Bukar Tijani, FAO regional representative for Africa.    "With the main harvest now at risk and trade and movements of goods severely restricted, food insecurity is poised to intensify in the weeks and months to come."    Restrictions on people"s movements and the establishment of quarantine zones to contain the spread of the hemorrhagic fever have also contributed to the food shortages, the FAO said.    It said border crossing closures and the reduction of trade through seaports have tightened food supplies in the three countries, which are all net cereal importers. As a result, prices have been propelled upwards, exacerbated by higher transport costs.    In Liberia, with the main harvest season for rice and maize just weeks away, production will be scaled back as migration restrictions cause labour shortages on farms, the FAO said.    Cash crops like palm oil, cocoa and rubber will be seriously affected, squeezing the purchasing power of many families, who will also lose income and nutrition due to the ban on bush meat.    The price of cassava at a market in the Liberian capital Monrovia rose 150 per cent in the first weeks of August, the FAO said, adding that currency depreciation in Sierra Leone and Liberia was likely to force prices up further.    "Even prior to the Ebola outbreak, households in some of the most affected areas were spending up to 80 per cent of their incomes on food," said Vincent Martin, head of an FAO unit in Dakar.    "Now these latest price spikes are effectively putting food completely out of their reach," he said in a statement.    In response, the UN World Food Programme and FAO have approved an emergency programme to deliver 65,000 tonnes of food to 1.3 million people affected by Ebola over a three-month period.    8 Aug 2014    Ebola crisis: WHO declares international public health emergency.    West Africa"s raging epidemic of the Ebola virus has been declared an international public health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO).    Holding an emergency meeting, the Geneva-based UN health agency said the possible consequences of further spread are "particularly serious" given the virulence of the virus.    WHO chief Margaret Chan has described the outbreak as an extraordinary event and a risk to other countries, and said a coordinated international response was required.    "I am declaring the current outbreak of Ebola virus.. a public health emergency of international concern," she said.    "The committee"s decision was unanimous. It"s advice to me acknowledges the serious and unusual nature of the outbreak and the potential for further international spread."    It is expected that WHO will be meet again next week to consider the ethics of using experimental medicines to deal with the outbreak.    The death count has now climbed to almost 1,000 people, in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.    Security forces in Sierra Leone and Liberia have set up blockades to stop people from the worst-affected areas travelling, and Liberia has declared a state of emergency.    http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/press-releases/general/red-cross-red-crescent-calls-for-immediate-scale-up-of-efforts-in-support-of-who-and-west-african-governments-plan-to-tackle-ebola-epidemic/ http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en/ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2014/ebola-roadmap/en/    28 July, 2014    Ebola has killed 672 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since it was first diagnosed in February.    The fatality rate of the current outbreak is around 60 per cent, although the disease can kill up to 90 per cent of those who catch it.    Highly contagious, its symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea and internal and external bleeding.    The World Health Organization said that in the past week, its regional director for Africa, Luis Sambo, had been on a fact-finding mission to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which have 1,201 confirmed, suspected and probable cases between them.    "He observed that the outbreak is beyond each national health sector alone and urged the governments of the affected countries to mobilise and involve all sectors, including civil society and communities, in the response," the WHO said.    A relative surge in cases in Guinea after weeks of low viral activity showed that "undetected chains of transmission existed in the community", the WHO said, calling for containment measures and contact tracing to be stepped up in Guinea.    http://www.ifrc.org/ebola-crisis http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/ebola-outbreak-response-plan/en/ http://www.who.int/features/2014/ebola-sierra-leone/en/ http://www.who.int/csr/don/archive/disease/ebola/en/ http://www.msf.org/article/ebola-official-msf-response-who-declaring-ebola-international-public-health-emergency    2 July 2014    African Health Ministers meet to address Ebola Outbreak.    Health ministers from 11 African nations are meeting in Ghana to discuss how they should respond to the deadliest ever outbreak of Ebola.    The World Health Organization is leading the two-day conference in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, after announcing that 467 people have now died from Ebola in West Africa this year.    Guinea has been the hardest hit with 303 deaths attributed to Ebola since April. The overall numbers are lower in Sierra Leone and Liberia, but both countries have reported a sharp increase in cases and deaths from the highly contagious disease in the past month.    The other countries taking part in the conference include Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.    The WHO is calling for a "strong response" to contain the outbreak, particularly in the area where Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia share a border.    Before this year, the deadliest Ebola outbreak was in 1976 in the DRC where 280 people died.    The often-fatal disease is spread between humans by direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids from an infected person. There is no specific treatment or vaccine for Ebola.    March 2014 (Plan International)    The Ebola epidemic in the Republic of Guinea is threatening to become a regional health crisis endangering a vast population, warns humanitarian organisation Plan International.    The region of Forest Guinea, where most of the 59 reported deaths have occurred, is close to the border with Sierra Leone and Liberia. A few suspected cases have already been reported in Sierra Leone.    Plan works in the worst-affected areas of Forest Guinea and is calling for a coordinated emergency response involving Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to contain the deadly virus. The organisation has started supporting the Guinean authorities which have launched a full-fledged response to the Ebola crisis.    “The Ebola fever is one of the most virulent diseases known to mankind with a fatality rate up to 90%. Communities in the affected region stretch across the borders and people move freely within this area. This poses a serious risk of the epidemic becoming widespread with devastating consequences,” said Ibrahima Touré, Plan International Country Director in Guinea.    “Communities, especially children, in the border areas between Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are vulnerable and need immediate support. A large scale preventive action will need to be put in place rapidly,” he added.    Plan staff in the affected area report that people are extremely concerned about the lethal Ebola virus which spreads by contact with infected people or animals. “Even though most people are going about their normal business, there is a strong fear of the disease in the communities. A few people have even left the affected area for Conakry,” said Mamady Dramé, Plan’s programme unit manager in Macenta, Forest Guinea.    “Rumours about the disease are rife in the affected areas. Sudden deaths of people have given rise to all sorts of stories among the population. The authorities, aware of the potential panic, are trying their best to encourage people to only consider information released by local officials and messages broadcast on local radio.”    “Local authorities are working with religious leaders in mosques and churches to provide information to people on preventive measures. It is critical that people receive clear and accurate information on what they can do to protect themselves,” he added.    There is no treatment or vaccine available for Ebola fever. It therefore poses a huge challenge for the Guinean authorities to stop the virus from spreading.    As a first response, Plan will join the Guinean authorities in disseminating information on preventive measures at the national level through radio, TV and SMS. In Forest Guinea, the organisation will particularly target children and schools in the communities.    http://plan-international.org/about-plan/resources/media-centre/press-releases/guinea-ebola-epidemic-threatening-to-become-a-regional-crisis http://www.irinnews.org/report/99881/closing-guinea-s-ebola-infection-gap http://www.interaction.org/blog/human-side-ebola http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news-stories/field-news/response-west-africa-ebola-epidemic-remains-dangerously-inadequate http://ebola.thelancet.com/ http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en/ http://www.afro.who.int/en/clusters-a-programmes/dpc/epidemic-a-pandemic-alert-and-response/epr-highlights/4231-ebola-virus-disease-feature-stories-and-media-releases.html Visit the related web page
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