Health

The government of Mali confirmed the country’s second case of Ebola late on Tuesday and police deployed outside a clinic in the capital, Bamako, that authorities said had been quarantined. In a statement via Twitter, Mali’s Information Minister  Mamadou Camara said “prevention measures” were being taken, but gave no details on the case. Local officials and diplomats said the new case was unrelated to the first one last month. Mali became the sixth West African country to record a case of Ebola when a two-year-old girl from Guinea died in October. It has not recorded any confirmed cases since then and 108 people linked to the girl were due to complete their 21-day quarantine period on Tuesday. Mali shares an 800 km (500 mile) border with Guinea, which alongside Liberia and Sierra Leone, has been worst affected by an Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 5,000 people this year. Medical officials and diplomats said Mali’s new Ebola case was a nurse who had been in contact with a man who arrived from Guinea and died in late October at the now locked down Pasteur Clinic.

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Ngwa Bertrand

12.Nov.2014

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On Saturday, 15 November 2014, members of different medical diaspora groups covering communities from all over the world, relevant representatives and leads from the Royal Medical Colleges and other medical institutions such as the RSM and BMA will gather in London for the Second Annual UK Medical Diaspora conference hosted by the Royal College of Physician under its Global Health programme. According to the organisers, conference participants will to explore opportunities for closer working between diaspora organisations and medical bodies such as the Royal Medical Colleges, on work in the UK and overseas. The conference will provide an opportunity for delegates to not only keep up to date with which organisations are working where but to identify specific avenues for collaboration such as policy, advocacy, fundraising and other areas. The organisers are keen to involve diaspora-focused organisations with innovative projects overseas, to use this great platform on which to showcase their work.  The Cameroon diaspora organisation, Cameroon Forum, has been invited to share knowledge about their innovative African diaspora malaria initiative on malaria prevention and antimalarials uptake awareness under the 'African Diaspora Action Against Malaria' (ADAAM).
Speaking to Cameroon Concord about the conference, the convenor of ADAAM and CEO of Cameroon Forum, Ralph Tanyi, said that within the context of the current global development challenges, it is imperative for the African diaspora in the UK and EU to explore collaboration opportunities to increase the effectiveness and impact of their contribution to strengthening healthcare systems in Africa. He invited all African students in public or global health, diaspora and development, interested in learning more about the principles of collaborative working, volunteering and effective diaspora participation in development to attend this event.  For interested health care professionals and global/public health students, participation at this conference will accrue credit towards their continual professional development (CPD) accredited by the Royal College of Medicine (RSM). Delegates should indicate their interest in CPD credit at the time of registration for the event.  Cameroon Concord will be reporting on the outcome of the conference.

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Ngwa Bertrand

10.Nov.2014

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The World Health Organization has announced a decline in new Ebola cases and some progress against the disease, with the death toll approaching 5,000 in West Africa. "Case incidence is declining in some districts in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, while steep rises persist in other districts," the United Nations agency said in a statement on Friday. The WHO said that more than 4,960 people have died of Ebola, mostly in the three African countries worst-hit by the outbreak. It added that over 13,200 cases of Ebola have been reported in the West African states. In a separate statement, the UN special envoy on Ebola, David Nabarro, said he was optimistic that the epidemic would end in 2015.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

08.Nov.2014

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The number of Ebola cases is surging in Sierra Leone as the country suffers from a lack of treatment centers, says a UN mission. The recent outbreak of Ebola has killed more than 1,060 people in Sierra Leone, particularly affecting the western areas around the capital, Freetown, the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) said in its weekly report released on Wednesday. It recommended that the country’s Ebola Treatment Centers (ETCs) increase the number of beds from 288 to a total of 1,864 by December to combat the Ebola virus disease (EVD).

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

07.Nov.2014

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The deadly Ebola virus has likely claimed far more lives than the number reported by the World Health Organization, an expert at the UN agency says. “There are lots of missing deaths in this epidemic,” said the WHO director of strategy, Christopher Dye, on Thursday, assessing that the list of 4,818 fatalities could be missing another 5,000 deaths. According to the UN expert, the known fatality rate stands at about 70 percent for the current epidemic centered in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. With total reported cases of infections reaching 13,042, the result suggests that many of the deaths were going unrecorded, Dye added. He went on to explain that the most likely reason was that many people were burying the dead in secret, possibly to avoid having authorities interfere with burial customs.Washing and touching the deceased during burial customs is widely blamed for much of the transmission of the Ebola virus, Dye said.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

07.Nov.2014

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Ebola is an on-going health crisis – but in many instances fears have escalated out of context within a group of narrow minded westerners. 

In response, British chemist Anthony England has created a map of Africa for the “geographically challenged”, which clearly highlights the three West African countries severely affected by Ebola. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are coloured in red, green and blue, while the rest of the continent remains blank with the slogan “No Ebola” stamped across it.

 The map also defines exactly what is meant by “No Ebola”. That is “no current confirmed patients” and “no current confirmed infectious outbreak”. So, for example, while Mali reported a case it is still not included in the graphic because the two-year-old victim tragically died from the disease.

 In short, only “problem countries” are shown. England, who lives in the Netherlands, said he was inspired by an article about a teacher in Louisville, Kentucky. According to WLYK, Susan Sherman handed in her resignation at the Catholic school where she taught because many students, teachers, parents and parishioners were unhappy about her decision to travel to Kenya as a missionary. Kenya has not reported a single case of Ebola – but this is just one story amid a wave of ignorance about the epidemic gripping West Africa. England, who has visited the region in the past, told The Independent that he sees "an endless amount of ill-informed" commentary on Twitter.

He hopes that his map will clear up some of the confusion, which he believes is harming the efforts to stop the spread of the disease. He said: "There [are] genuine questions from people who want to learn. But as best as I can tell there are far more from people who have read little but yet think they all the answers based on some or other hearsay - and then refuse to listen to any scientifically-minded guidance." But England added: "I think there is enough information out there in the world for people to know what Ebola is all about.

Anyone who cares to learn the details about Ebola can easily find all the answers." More than 10,000 cases of Ebola have now been recorded as the virus continues to spread. Out of the cases recorded in eight affected countries, almost 5,000 patients have died, with Liberia the worst hit.

 The head of the World Health Organisation this week said there is still no Ebola vaccine 40 years after the disease first emerged because it previously affected only poor African nations Dr Margaret Chan, the director-general of the WHO attacked drug companies, saying that “a profit-driven industry does not invest in products for markets that cannot pay”.

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Ngwa Bertrand

06.Nov.2014

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