5 Million Kids Out of School Due to Ebola

Children from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are still out of school. Here’s what’s being done… Public schools in Guinea have been closed since March. Schools in Sierra Leone and Liberia never opened after the summer holiday. All told, the children’s rights and emergency relief group UNICEF estimates that 5 million children ages 3 to 17 are out of school due to Ebola. “This Ebola crisis has been predominantly seen as a health...

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Britain not seeking U.S. military assistance to fight Ebola

(Reuters) – Britain said on Tuesday it would not be seeking U.S. military assistance to fight Ebola in Sierra Leone where it expects to see “enormous change” by the end of January following a surge in response measures. As a U.S. operation of 3,000 troops begins to turn the tide against the deadly virus in neighboring Liberia, calls have grown for it to shift resources towards ally Britain, which is leading the response in Sierra...

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Justice Department Warns Against Ebola Discrimination

Huffington Post – WASHINGTON — The Justice Department issued guidelines on Monday designed to help government workers avoid illegally discriminating against people because of the Ebola virus. Citing “increased reports of discrimination in the United States against people who are or are perceived to be from an African country or of African descent,” the department’s Civil Rights Division sent out non-discrimination...

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Liberia treating Ebola patients with serum made from blood of survivors

Liberia has begun treating Ebola patients with serum therapy – a treatment made from the blood of recovered survivors. Doctors hope the experimental treatment could help combat the virus that has been sweeping West Africa and killing thousands of people. Up to 13 December, 6,841 people had been reported as having died from the disease. The total number of reported cases is more than 18,000. If a person has successfully fought off the infection,...

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Ebola-hit Liberia delays election until weekend

Monrovia (AFP) – A much-postponed election for half the seats in Ebola-hit Liberia’s Senate has been put back until the weekend — but cannot be further delayed, the country’s electoral commission said Monday. The vote for 15 seats in the upper house of parliament has been postponed twice already as the epidemic ravaged the impoverished west African nation.The National Elections Commission (NEC) said the poll will now be...

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This is what an Ebola curfew looks like

Killian Doherty, an Irish architect working for the Architectural Field Office (AFO), has been in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, for much of the Ebola epidemic. He documented the curfews in some dramatic photographs Emptied of people, it is even more clear that the city’s infrastructure is extremely dated … Freetown, Sierra Leone during the recent curfew. All photographs by Killian Docherty   Sierra Leone has been severely affected...

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Ebola stricken countries could see debt forgiveness

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — A U.N. commission is asking for more debt cancellations for the three West African nations hardest hit by the Ebola virus. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa said Monday that it is crucial that the current Ebola health crisis not be a catalyst for financial distress in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Carlos Lopez, a U.N. under secretary-general and the executive secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission...

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UN Urges Critical Improvements of Ebola Affected Countries’ Health Systems

NEW YORK, 12 December 2014 / PRN Africa / — The international community must help Ebola affected countries reboot their health systems so that they emerge from the current crisis more resilient and more focused on prevention efforts than ever before, a high-level meeting coordinated by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva heard today. “People in Ebola affected countries are dying – not only from Ebola but also from...

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Ebola Outbreak Will Take Several More Months to Contain: U.N.

Helen Regan The U.N. goal of containing 100% of Ebola cases by Jan. 1 will not be met. The U.N.’s special envoy on Ebola said Thursday that it would be several months before the ebola outbreak in West Africa is under control. Dr. David Nabarro said international governments as well as local communities had taken a “massive shift” in responding to the crisis over the past four month, the Associated Press reports. However, he noted that more needed...

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Health partners unite to build stronger Ebola health systems

WHO – 12 DECEMEBR 2014 ¦ GENEVA – On 10-11 December 2014, Ministers of Health and Finance of Ebola-affected countries, international organizations and development partners assembled for a high-level meeting on how to strengthen systems of health in Ebola-affected countries and agreed on what needs to be done to rebuild and strengthen essential ebola health services in these countries.  “People in Ebola-affected countries are dying –...

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