Abuja, 26th Septembers, 2014 - The drum-beats and the sounds from the algaitas (trumpets) reverberate in the communities to herald the arrival of the vaccination teams, trigger the extraordinary flow of children out to the streets, mothers/ caregivers peeping through the doors and over the low fences of the compounds to have a glimpse of the Directly Observed Polio Vaccination (DOPV); essentially the administration of OPV to eligible children and distribution of appropriate attractive pluses like milk sachets, soap, candies and whistles, under the watchful eyes of senior supervisors.

Last week saw a welcome boost to numbers of treatment places available to people with Ebola in Monrovia, Liberia. The Island Clinic, a private clinic refurbished as an Ebola Treatment Unit by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare with support from WHO and other partners, opened its doors on Sunday 21 September, adding another desperately needed 120 Ebola treatment beds to the 240 available in Monrovia.

The Government of Liberia has signed its first three groundbreaki ng contract agreements with key implementing partners for the US$52m Ebola Emergency Response operation that is intended to accelerate Liberia’s response to the Ebola epidemic across the country

As part of continued efforts to improve access to health services and the quality of health care in South Sudan WHO supported the Ministry of Health (MoH) to host a national patient safety and quality consultative meeting over two days. This was the first of its kind in the Republic of South Sudan.

This week marks 6 months since WHO was notified of an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Guinea. This outbreak has since evolved into the largest, most severe and most complex outbreak in the history of the disease. The number of cases and deaths far exceeds those from all past outbreaks combined. The 3 most-affected countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – face enormous challenges in stopping transmission and providing care for all patients.

The 2014 Synchronized National Immunization Days (NIDs) against polio, currently taking place in 13 West and Central African countries, kicked off in the Gambia on the eve of the campaign at the Kanifing Municipal Council Grounds (KMC) in Sere Kunda (18th September 2014).  Two rounds of polio NIDs are slated for 19th -22nd September 2014 and 31st Oct. – 03rd Nov. 2014 respectively.
 

Harare, 22 Sept.

22 September 2014 ¦ GENEVA -Unless Ebola control measures in west Africa are enhanced quickly, experts from the WHO and Imperial College, London, predict numbers will continue to climb exponentially, and more than 20 000 people will have been infected by early November, according to a new article in the New England Journal of Medicine released 6 months after WHO was first notified of the outbreak in west Africa.

1. View of the Island Hospital
2. Dr. Francis Kateh reading official order of programme leading to the opening of Island Hospital
3. Dr. Bernice T. Dahn, Chief Medical Officer/RL making remarks at opening of Island Hospita
4. Hon. Morris Dukuly, Minister of Internal Affairs making remarks at opening of Island Hospital
5. Hon. Amara Konneh, Minister of Finance making remarks at opening of Island Hospital
6. Rep. Edward Ford, District #6 Representative, making remarks at opening of Island Hospital
7. Hon. Dr.

19 September 2014, New York/Geneva - Nearly six months after the first case of Ebola in West Africa was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and the Security Council have approved resolutions creating the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) to contain the ongoing outbreak which ha