Posts
Just to confuse the punters someone in the UN is claiming they'll have Ebola under control by the end of the year!
Pigs will fly (or they'll have to get that Russian vaccine out pronto)
Ebola
epidemic 'could lead to failed states', warns WHO
The
Ebola epidemic threatens the "very survival" of societies
and could lead to failed states, the World Health Organization (WHO)
has warned.
BBC,
13
October, 2014
The
outbreak, which has killed some 4,000 people in West Africa, has led
to a "crisis for international peace and security", WHO
head Margaret Chan said.
She
also warned of the cost of panic "spreading faster than the
virus".
Meanwhile,
medics have largely ignored a strike call in Liberia, the centre of
the deadliest-ever Ebola outbreak.
Nurses
and medical assistants had been urged to strike over danger money and
conditions. However, most were working as normal on Monday, the BBC's
Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia said.
More
than 4,000 people have died during the Ebola outbreak
A
union official said the government had coerced workers - but the
government said it had simply asked them to be reasonable.
In
a speech delivered on her behalf at a conference in the Philippines,
Ms Chan said Ebola was a historic risk.
"I
have never seen a health event threaten the very survival of
societies and governments in already very poor countries," she
said. "I have never seen an infectious disease contribute so
strongly to potential state failure."
She
warned of the economic impact of "rumours and panic spreading
faster than the virus", citing a World Bank estimate that 90% of
the cost of the outbreak would arise from "irrational attempts
of the public to avoid infection".
Ms
Chan also criticised pharmaceutical firms for not focusing on Ebola,
condemning a "profit-driven industry [that] does not invest in
products for markets that cannot pay".
In
a corner of a UN compound at Accra airport, the UN's newest agency is
having its first warehouse put up.
In
a nearby office block, a multinational team of UN workers are finding
desks and setting up phone lines for the regional headquarters of the
UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER). The operation is so
new that pieces of paper Sellotaped to walls and doors serve as
nameplates.
But
the question on many minds is why it has taken the UN so long to set
up UNMEER. Medical aid agencies working on the front lines in the
fight against Ebola, such as Medecins Sans Frontieres, have been
sounding the alarm since the beginning of the year.
But
UNMEER officials say they didn't realise until recently that the
disease was out of control
Liberia
health workers poised to start indefinite strike; Ebola efforts in
jeopardy
The
Ebola epidemic threatens the "very survival" of societies
and could lead to failed states, the World Health Organization (WHO)
has warned.
13
October, 2014
Thousands
of Liberian health care workers are set to begin an indefinite strike
at midnight on Monday that could undermine the country’s effort to
stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus and leave several hundred
patients without care.
Health
workers in the West African nation threatened to abandon hundreds of
patients in Ebola treatment units, clinics and hospitals if demands
for better incentives, working conditions and protective equipment
were not met.
A
meeting to resolve their grievances on Oct. 10 ended in a deadlock
with the government refusing the meet their demands, said George
Williams, secretary general of the National Health Workers
Association of Liberia.
“The
government of Liberia has not changed their posture. They do not want
to engage us so that we can talk,” Williams said. “Time is
running out, by 1200 midnight on Monday morning, we will be starting
the go-slow action.”
Liberia’s
deputy health minister, Matthew Flomo, said the government was not
aware of health workers planning to strike
“What
I do know is that the government has reached an agreement with health
workers for their payment, which will be as of September, beginning
Monday,” Flomo said.
But
Williams denied the workers had reached any agreement with the
government. He accused the administration of trying to divide the
workers.
He,
however, acknowledged that the strike would undermine the gains being
made in the fight against Ebola in Liberia, but said they were
confident the public would understand the reason behind their action.
“The
problem is the government. The public should get angry with the
government, not with us,” Williams said
“The
public is aware that health workers are dying because they are not
protected. Nobody is supposed to die while protecting lives, we have
been calling on the government to give us protective gear but they
are not doing so,” he said.
Liberia
has the highest number of infections and deaths of the worst outbreak
of the viral haemorrhagic fever that has killed 2,316 people in the
poor West African nation.
Health
care systems in Liberia as well as in Sierra Leone and Guinea where
the outbreak was first recorded in March, have been overwhelmed by
the epidemic. The disease has also spread to Senegal, Nigeria, Spain
and the United States.
Concern
that Ebola could spread globally has prompted international
organizations and the international community to step up support for
the affected countries with medical personnel, material and pledges
of about $1 billion to tackle the epidemic.
But
health care workers in Liberia complain they are still working
without basic protective clothing and are not receiving adequate
compensation while many of them have contracted and died from the
disease.
Over
4,000 people have died from Ebola, including 233 health care workers,
among them 95 from Liberia and the same number from Sierra Leone,
according to the World Health Organization.
One thing is unprecedented. That is the simultaneous outbreak of major diseases. This has a high mortality rate.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.