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IMF policies blamed for Ebola spread in West Africa

BBC                                                                                                                       Dec. 22 2014

Spending cuts imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may have contributed to the rapid spread of Ebola in three West African states, UK-based researchers say.

                      Sierra Leone, along with Liberia and Guinea, have poor health facilities

It had led to "under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems" in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, they said.

The IMF denied the allegation.

"A major reason why the Ebola outbreak spread so rapidly was the weakness of healthcare systems in the region, and it would be unfortunate if underlying causes were overlooked," said Cambridge University sociologist and lead study author Alexander Kentikelenis....

The IMF said in a statement that health spending in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone had, in fact, increased in the 2010-2013 period.

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Ebola Is Changing Course In Liberia. Will The U.S. Military Adapt?

A helicopter's eye view of a new ETU, funded by USAID and built by Save the Children.November 25, 2014 - by Kelly McEvers - npr.org

The Ebola outbreak started in rural areas, but by June it had reached Liberia's capital, Monrovia.

By August, the number of people contracting the Ebola virus in the country was doubling every week. The Liberian government and aid workers begged for help.

Enter the U.S. military, who along with other U.S. agencies had a clear plan in mid-September to build more Ebola treatment units, or ETUs. At least one would be built in the major town of each of Liberia's 15 counties. That way, sick patients in those counties wouldn't bring more Ebola to the capital.

But it's taken a long time to build these ETUs; most won't be done until the end of the year. And now the spread of Ebola changing — clusters are popping up in remote rural areas. So building a huge treatment center in each county's main town may no longer make sense.

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Ebola outbreak threatens peace, security, WHO chief says

GENEVA — The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is “unquestionably the most severe acute public health emergency in modern times,” Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the World Health Organization, said Monday.

Chan, who dealt with the 2009 avian flu pandemic and the SARS outbreaks of 2002-03, said the Ebola outbreak had progressed from a public health crisis to “a crisis for international peace and security.”

“I have never seen a health event threaten the very survival of societies and governments in already very poor countries,” she said in a statement delivered on her behalf to a conference in Manila, Philippines, and released by her office in Geneva. “I have never seen an infectious disease contribute so strongly to potential state failure.”

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Obama: U.S. Will Beef Up Airport Screenings for Ebola

UPDATED  With additional information  (Scroll below).

TIME

By Zeke J. Miller                              Oct. 6. 2014                5:24 PM

President Barack Obama said Monday that the U.S. is working on additional passenger screenings for airline passengers flying from Ebola-stricken West Africa, two weeks after a Liberian man infected with the disease entered the country.

Officials are “going to be working on protocols to do additional passenger screenings both at the source and here in the United States,” Obama said, addressing reporters following a briefing on his administration’s response to the epidemic in Africa and efforts to keep the disease from spreading to the U.S. “All of these things make me confident that here in the United States at least the chances of an outbreak, of an epidemic here are extraordinarily low.”

The president did not give specifics on the new screening measures, and Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declined to elaborate further in an interview with CNN after the meeting.

 

 

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Ebola outbreak: Why Liberia's quarantine in West Point slum will fail

A relic of the Middle Ages, quarantines do more harm than good

By Amber Hildebrandt, CBC News Aug 25, 2014 5:00 AM ET

Medical experts say that mass quarantine is rarely if ever effective in stemming the spread of a contagion like Ebola, and the move by Liberia to cordon off a sprawling slum is likely to do more harm than good.

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West African experts call for drugs decriminalisation

A panel of experts called Thursday for minor drugs offences to be decriminalised in west Africa, where trafficking, consumption and production is undermining development and causing a public health crisis.

The West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD) said current policies were fuelling corruption in a region where the cocaine trade alone, estimated at $1.25 billion (920 million euros) a year, dwarfs the combined budgets of several countries.

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Médicaments contrefaits : un problème de santé en Afrique

Certains individus mal intentionnés n’ont aucun mal à transformer un morceau de craie, un peu de farine ou d’amidon en un comprimé ou une pilule. Difficile de dire à l’œil nu s’il s’agit d’un « faux ». L’étiquetage et l’emballage sont souvent imités à la perfection. Le commerce mondial de médicaments de contrefaçon, qui pèse un milliard de dollars, se porte bien en Afrique. Les médicaments contrefaits et de mauvaise qualité inondent les marchés. Se rendre à la pharmacie, c’est un peu jouer à la roulette russe. Choisir la mauvaise boîte peut vous coûter la vie.

En Afrique, selon l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), près de 100 000 décès par...

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Guinea: Poverty Reduction Strategy (2013-2015)

 

On July 2013, the International Monetary Fund leased the poverty reduction strategy (2013-2015) for Guinea. The document is divided into three chapter. The first chapter presents the most recent socio-economic situation, the second, the strategic framework for the alleviation of poverty and the third, the framework for implementation of the strategy. The document elaborated extensivelly among other topics, on health and human security, eduction, as well as climate change. Please click here to read more.

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Conakry sanitation status

 

This report provides a brief assessment of Conakry sanitation status. It shares information about water sources and supply systems, sanitation access, sewage system and treatment, and sanitation in low-income areas. It further describes agencies within the administration in charge of sanitation, as well as outside donors efforts to improve sanitation in Conakry. Please click here to read more.

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