Disaster Response

uschamberfoundation.org

Event: Corporate Citizenship Center - Ebola Outbreak Coordination Conference Call
Friday, September 26, 2014 - 2:00pm

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center (CCC) hosted a conference call on Friday, September 26 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Over the past six months, an Ebola outbreak has affected five countries in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone).  The current outbreak is unprecedented in scale and geographical reach: the present West Africa outbreak has a higher caseload than all other previous Ebola crises combined.  Worse yet, the United Nations reports that the outbreak continues to accelerate, with almost 40% of the total cases occurring in the past 21 days.

CCC’s Ebola coordination conference call will provide updated information on the humanitarian response and the efforts to contain the disease.  It will also detail ways that the business community can help.

CLICK HERE - Listen to the Call Archive

BBC      Sepember 26, 2014

The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has passed 3,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

The latest figures indicate that more than 6,500 people are believed to have been infected in the region.

Liberia is the worst affected country, having recorded around 1,830 deaths linked to the latest outbreak.

Some studies have warned that the numbers of infected could rise to more than 20,000 by early November.

It also highlights the risk of infection for health workers trying to stem the outbreak. It says 375 workers are known to have been infected, and that 211 have so far died from the virus.

Some 600 people have died in Sierra Leone and a similar number in Guinea, where the outbreak was first confirmed in March.

Nigeria and Senegal, two other West Africa countries that have also been affected by the outbreak, have not recorded any new cases or deaths in the last few weeks, the latest WHO report says.

Update of this Morning's story:

Obama tells global health officials: After Ebola, ‘we have to do better.’Obama tells global health officials: After Ebola, ‘we have to do better.’

WASHINGTON POST
By Juliet Eilperin September 26 at 1:30 PM

WASHINGTON --

President Obama addressed health officials from dozens of countries who had gathered Friday at the White House to determine ways the international community can strengthen defenses against future epidemics, such as the Ebola outbreak now raging in West Africa.

Administration officials had launched a global health security initiative in February to help other nations develop basic disease detection and monitoring systems to contain the spread of deadly illnesses.