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Obama: U.S. military to provide equipment, resources to battle Ebola epidemic in Africa

Sat, 2014-09-20 11:06 — Norea

By Lena H. Sun & Juliet Eilperin - Sep 7 - The Washington Post

President Obama said Sunday that the U.S. military will begin aiding what has been a chaotic and ineffective response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, arguing that it represents a serious national security concern.

The move significantly ramps up the U.S. response and comes as the already strained military is likely to be called upon further to address militant threats in the Middle East. The decision to involve the military in providing equipment and other assistance for international health workers in Africa comes after mounting calls from some unlikely groups — most prominently the international medical organization Doctors Without Borders — demonstrating to the White House the urgency of the issue.

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Ebola Spurs A Full Public Lockdown In Sierra Leone

Sat, 2014-09-20 10:52 — Norea

Hoping to stop a virus that has killed hundreds of its citizens, Sierra Leone will institute a temporary lockdown this month. This photo from August shows people walking in Kenema, in a part of Sierra Leone that's been hit hard by the outbreak. Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images by Bill Chappell - Sep 06, 2014 8:57 AM ET - NPR

Sierra Leone will impose a three-day lockdown on all its citizens, as part of a plan to "deal with Ebola once and for all," the government says. The move is an effort to stop the disease that has killed over 2,000 people in five West African countries, according to World Health Organization data.

But the lockdown's effectiveness will depend on citizens buying in to the government's plan. From Nairobi, NPR's Gregory Warner reports:

"From Sept. 19 to 21, the people of Sierra Leone will have to remain in their homes so health workers can isolate new Ebola cases and prevent the disease from spreading. But the lockdown will have to be mostly voluntary. Sierra Leone does not have the police or military capacity to enforce it on 6 million citizens.

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Guinean government halts Ebola Education activities in southeast region

Fri, 2014-09-19 17:34 — mike kraft

VOA

Sierra Leone begins three-day lockdown to counter Ebola

Fri, 2014-09-19 14:25 — mike kraft

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — One of the most stringent anti-Ebola measures to date began here Friday morning as Sierra Leone imposed a three-day national lockdown, ordering people off the streets and into their homes in an effort to stamp out the deadly disease.

Police officers patrolled the streets of the densely populated capital, telling stragglers to go home and stay indoors. Volunteers in bright jerseys prepared to go house-to-house throughout the country to warn people about Ebola’s dangers and to root out those who might be infected but were staying in hiding.

The normally busy streets of Freetown were empty Friday morning, stores were closed and pedestrians were rare on the main thoroughfares.

The country’s president, justifying the extraordinary move in a radio address Thursday night, suggested that Sierra Leone was engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the disease.

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Some Airports Are Taking The Temperature of Passengers

Fri, 2014-09-19 14:00 — mike kraft

by Eleanor Klibanoff NPR

September 18, 201412:07 PM ET

A health official uses a handheld infrared thermometer on a passenger arriving at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Nigeria.

Sunday Alamba/AP

Airports in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are relying on a familiar tool to stop the spread of Ebola: the thermometer.

Africa

Transportation

https://news.vice.com/article/left-to-die-liberias-ebola-victims-have-nowhere-to-turn-as-treatment-centers-overflow

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Left to Die: Liberia's Ebola Victims Have Nowhere to Turn as Treatment Centers Overflow

Fri, 2014-09-19 13:15 — Norea

A health worker guards the door as a patient who escaped is escorted back inside at the Redemption Hospital holding center in Monrovia. by Tim Freccia By Danny Gold - Sep 19, 2014 - vice.com

Paul M. Goi waited outside of the Redemption Hospital, a treatment center serving as a holding area for Ebola patients in Monrovia, Liberia, with his sick sister-in-law in the backseat of his station wagon. She had been vomiting, and he assumed that she had caught the Ebola virus. Across the street, inside an ambulance were other members of his family, including his daughter and granddaughter. They, too, were believed to be sick with Ebola.

"I'm very frustrated," Goi told VICE News. "I had been calling the ambulances since Sunday to come pick them up, and none came." Now that he had finally managed to get his sick relatives picked up and taken to the hospital, there was simply no room. All he wanted was answers, he said.

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U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps to Help Treat Ebola Patients in Liberia

Fri, 2014-09-19 03:06 — Kathy Gilbeaux

hhs.gov - September 16, 2014

A team of specialized officers from the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is being prepared to deploy to manage and staff a previously announced U.S. Department of Defense hospital in Liberia to care for health care workers who become ill from Ebola.

The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Commissioned Corps is an elite uniformed service with more than 6,800 full-time, highly qualified public health professionals, serving the most underserved and vulnerable populations domestically and abroad.

Sixty-five Commissioned Corps officers, with diverse clinical and public health backgrounds, will travel to Liberia to provide direct patient care to health care workers. In addition to their professional expertise, these officers will undergo further intensive training in Ebola response and advanced infection control.

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