Ebola

With more pressing issues like bombing civilians in Gaza and eastern Ukraine and tackling Russia why worry about something as piffling as a major pandemic. Afterall it's only human lives involved – no oil or gas here.

Ebola Outbreak Unlikely to Feature Heavily at White House Africa Summit

Foreign Policy,

1 August 2014,

Amid a host of global crises, next week's Africa Summit, a White House effort to encourage business initiatives in Africa and foster security cooperation with the continent, has not garnered much hype in the leadup. But the ebola outbreak in West Africa changed that on Friday, when President Barack Obama discussed it in a wide-ranging press conference after two Americans contracted the disease.

The State Department evacuated the two U.S. aid workers from Liberia on Friday to the United States for treatment. They are being ferried by a specially modified Gulfstream jet that has a plastic tent separating crew and passengers to contain the virus. They will be taken to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, which is also home to the Centers for Disease Control.

Earlier this week, Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency and deployed its military to quarantine the worst hot zones. The World Health Organization pledged $100 million to fight the outbreak and are sending experts to West Africa; the CDC is deploying personnel to help combat the outbreak that has claimed the lives of more than 700 people.

Experts have traced the outbreak to the death of a 2-year-old child in Guinea last December. The disease then spread through the family, killing the victim's sister, mother, and grandmother. Next, a nurse in the village was struck, then a midwife. From there, the disease has burned a trail through Guinea and across its porous borders into Sierra Leone and Liberia. The region's widespread poverty and its dearth of modern medical facilities have made quarantining the disease difficult. Regardless, the international and local response has been widely criticized as lacking urgency. With the burst of activity this week, the WHO and governments in the region are trying to catch up to what has become to worst ebola outbreak in history.

Against that background, the leaders of Africa convene in Washington next week for a summit that has itself been widely criticized as lacking a clear agenda and personal attention from Obama. However, the outbreak reportedly will not be a major topic of discussion. According to Ned Price, a spokesman for the National Security Council, there are no plans to alter the summit's agenda in response to the outbreak. "Global health issues already feature prominently on the agenda, and surely there will be natural opportunities for the assembled leaders to discuss the current outbreak," Price stated in an email to Foreign Policy.

The meeting's public agenda features one session devoted to health issues. On Monday, African officials and their U.S. counterparts will discuss "Investing in Health: Investing in Africa's Future. This discussion will highlight the decades-long U.S.-African health partnership that has saved and improved millions of lives," the summit agenda states. "It will also be an opportunity for U.S. and African leaders to agree on how we can further advance our shared health and development goals through our strong partnerships."

During his press conference, Obama emphasized that the United States is taking the outbreak seriously and will screen any summit attendees suspected of being infected with the disease. The CDC has procedures in place for airlines to report passengers exhibiting symptoms and to quarantine them upon their arrival as well.

Some think that, as a precaution, the summit should be canceled. However, the likelihood of ebola making it to the United States and causing an outbreak is exceedingly slim. The disease -- among the world's most deadly -- is actually difficult to contract. It can only be transmitted by coming into contact with an infected person's bodily fluids. A main transmission vector comes from handling victims' corpses. Anyone travelling to Washington for the summit is unlikely to have been directly involved in containing the outbreak.

WHO warns of ‘catastrophic’ consequences of Ebola outbreak: disease is spreading faster than our ability to control it.

The Extinction Protocol,

2 August 2014,

The director-general of the World Health Organization warned Friday that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is spreading quickly and the consequences could be “catastrophic” if greater efforts to control the outbreak aren’t put into place now. “This outbreak is moving faster than our efforts to control it,” Director-General Margaret Chan told the presidents of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast at a gathering in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. “If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socioeconomic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries,” she said. The world’s largest Ebola outbreak is in its fifth month and escalating in a poor corner of West Africa. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have together reported 1,323 cases, of whom 729 people have died. Neighboring Ivory Coast is at risk if the outbreak isn’t tamed. Also Friday, French authorities recommended for a second day that nationals suspend all travel to West African countries where cases of Ebola have been identified in a bid to prevent spread of the deadly disease to France. The WHO’s Dr. Chan praised the leaders gathered for their concern and political commitment—demonstrated this week with new measures such as deploying soldiers to quarantine stricken neighborhoods in Sierra Leone.

But, she said, “This meeting must mark a turning point in the outbreak response.” The dead include more than 60 health-care workers, she said, and other health-care staff have been infected. They include two Americans who are now believed to be under evacuation to the U.S. for intensive care. Dr. Chan said: “This is an unprecedented outbreak accompanied by unprecedented challenges.” Among them is the fact that it is caused by the most lethal Ebola strain. “Chains of transmission have moved underground. They are invisible. They are not being reported,” she said, “Because of the high fatality rate, many people in affected areas associate isolation wards with a sure death sentence, and prefer to care for loved ones in homes or seek assistance from traditional healers,” she said. “Such hiding of cases defeats strategies for rapid containment. Moreover, public attitudes can create a security threat to response teams when fear and misunderstanding turn to anger, hostility, or violence,” she said. However, she said that Ebola can be stopped with a well-managed response. She said that she would lead an international response coordinated by the WHO. Yesterday the organization said that it was launching such an effort with its member states that would cost $100 million.

The demands created by the outbreak in West Africa “outstrip your capacities to respond,” she told the four presidents. “The situation in West Africa is of international concern and must receive urgent priority for decisive action at national and international levels,” she said. Meanwhile, the French Foreign Ministry warned that travel to Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria should be suspended unless absolutely necessary. French citizens who travel to the area should avoid going to the jungles of Guinea and the areas identified in Sierra Leone and Liberia, the ministry said, adding people shouldn’t consume or manipulate meat from jungle animals and should avoid direct contact with body fluids from people suffering from high fever. When returning to France, people traveling from the four African countries should contact immediately emergency health services if they show symptoms such as fever