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  • Cote d'Ivoire: Ebola Isn't Dead, These Radio Stations Know Only Too Well

    ABIDJAN, 2015/02/14 Just like all other media phenomena, the "Ebola buzz" in Ivory Coast was only short-lived. But against a backdrop of silence, the media and community radio stations in the West of the country are continuing their crusade to raise awareness about the disease. Ever since the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic, they have expressed their concerns about the risks of contamination. "They" are the people in western Ivory Coast, who live close to the borders with Liberia, Mali and Guinea. Far from Abidjan, the economic capital of the Ivory Coast, the inhabitants of the regions closest to the epicentre of the health crisis remain worried about the virus. Although there are no "Lather against Ebola" challenges and people are not heard singing the "Stop Ebola" song in the streets of communities in the West, people are still very alert to the dangers related to the disease.

  • Liberia: Nimba Citizens On the Alert

    LIBERIA, 2015/02/14 Residents of Nimba County are said to be on the alert following reports of the outbreak of Ebola in a Guinean town that borders Nimba County. The alertness of the residents came next the County's Medical Director, Dr. Bowah Collins, speaking on Radio RK FM in Ganta last Weekend, disclosed the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Lorla Town in the Republic of Guinea. Dr. Bowah Collins told citizen in Nimba to be very careful particularly those traveling to Lorla Town in Guinea to purchase local commodities. He said the Ebola virus has killed several people in Lorla near the Liberian border.

  • Guinea: Red Cross Red Crescent Denounces Continued Violence Against Volunteers Working to Stop the Spread of Ebola

    GUINEA, 2015/02/14 The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is deeply concerned about continued violence perpetrated against its volunteers in Guinea. Due to the fear and mistrust surrounding Ebola virus disease, Red Cross staff and volunteers have regularly been attacked by scared communities. The majority recent incident took place on Sunday 8 February in the town of Forécariah, Western Guinea. Two Red Cross volunteers were beaten while attempting to provide a safe and dignified burial in the community. An average of ten attacks per month have been committed against Red Cross volunteers in Guinea since July 2014, ranging from verbal to physical assaults.

  • Chancellor Pledges $50m to Help Countries Fighting Ebola

    GUINEA, 2015/02/13 UK becomes initial country to pledge to a new IMF trust to relieve deficit caused by Ebola. The UK will continue its international leadership in the response to the Ebola outbreak by becoming the initial country to pledge to a new IMF trust to relieve deficit caused by the virus. The Chancellor has today announced that the UK will contribute $50m to a new IMF fund to relieve the burden of deficit caused by the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The IMF's new Catastrophe Containment and Relief (CRR) Trust was launched last week. Its initial role will be to provide grant aid that will be used for relief on deficit service payments to the IMF for the three nations most affected by the ongoing Ebola epidemic: Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The nations will be able to access funds to enable them to cover upcoming repayments to the IMF for two years, allowing them to redirect those resources to fighting the outbreak, and repairing their economies and societies.

  • Ebola Vaccine Trial Begins in Liberia

    LIBERIA, 2015/02/04 A large clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of two experimental vaccines to prevent Ebola virus infection is presently open to volunteers in Liberia. The trial is being led by a recently formed Liberia-U.S. clinical research partnership and is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. A release said the Partnership for Research on Ebola Vaccines in Liberia or PREVAIL, a Phase 2/3 study, is designed to enroll approximately 27,000 healthy men and women aged 18 years and older.

  • New Ebola Cases Reported in Liberia

    LIBERIA, 2015/02/04 Health authorities in Liberia have identified new Ebola cases in the capital, Monrovia, a day next a study of experimental vaccines against the virus was launched in the country. Assistant Health Minister and chief of Liberia's incident management system, Tolbert Nyensuwah, told journalists in Monrovia on Monday that five confirmed cases had been reported around Monrovia over the completed seven days. According to Minister Nyensuwah, the cases were reported from three communities in the western suburbs of the capital.

  • Algiers Minister of Health, People and Hospital Reform Abdelmalek Boudiaf.

    ALGERIA, 2015/01/30 A joint committee bringing together the representatives of Health Ministry and those of the Business Leaders Forum (FCE) will be created to examine ways to facilitate investment in the pharmaceutical industry, said Wednesday in Algiers Minister of Health, People and Hospital Reform Abdelmalek Boudiaf. This committee will hold a conference each month to identify the problems and constraints faced by investors so that to encourage the national production, said the minister at the end of a conference with FCE's President Ali Haddad.

  • African Unionsays gains against Ebola encouraging

    AFRICA, 2015/01/30 As civil society organizations express concern over fulfillment of pledges, the African Union (AU) Wednesday said situations in the three Ebola affected nations were improving. 'Number of daily cases are declining in the three nations with Liberia leading the way, the majority gains in battling the viral disease,' Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko, Commissioner for Social Affairs of the African Union, announced on Wednesday. Current trends signal a positive prospect for the three nations -- Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone -- most affected by the virus, he said, indicating that 'it shouldn't be too long' before they were declared Ebola free. 'The way things are looking [in] Liberia we are hearing, very any minute at this time they may probably even get to a point where they will make such an announcement,' Kaloko told journalists at a press conference on the sidelines of the 24th AU Summit.

  • UN Special Envoy Nabarro Sees Ebola Outbreak 'Slowing Down'

    BENIN, 2015/01/17 The United Nations appropriate envoy on Ebola has said the outbreak of the disease in West Africa appears to be slowing down. However, he added that the battle against Ebola was not over. UN appropriate envoy David Nabarro said on Thursday that the new figures released by the World Health Organization showed that the three nations hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak - Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - had registered the lowest numbers of fresh cases in months. Liberia reported its lowest number of new cases since June, while Guinea and Sierra Leone both recorded their fewest new cases since August.

  • Bird Flu Returns to Nigeria

    NIGERIA, 2015/01/16 The minister of agriculture and rural development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has disclosed that Nigeria is under the scourge of the deadly H5 strain of Avian Influenza virus. "The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Improvment(FMARD) wishes to notify the general public that an unusual high mortality has been reported in two poultry farms and live bird markets in Kano and Lagos States. "The samples forwarded to the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom, tested positive for the H5 strain of Avian Influenza virus and confirmatory samples have been sent to the International Reference Laboratory in Padova, Italy, for further characterisation," a press statement obtained by LEADERSHIP Friday, yesterday, read in part.
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