Government

The Ebola Outbreak of 2013–2014: An Assessment of U.S. Actions

Thu, 2015-04-30 17:25 — mike kraft

THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION Study by James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Charlotte Florance and Daniel J Kaniewski

April 24, 2015

Executive Summary

This report presents the observations, findings, and recommendations of a task force formed to examine the global response and the response of the U.S. government (USG) to the 2013–2014 Ebola outbreak and global transmission. Specifically, the task force sought to derive lessons learned and insights from the USG response to the Ebola outbreak both internationally and domestically with the goal of crafting recommendations to improve the government’s ability to respond to natural disasters, acts of bioterrorism, and various public health crises related to significant outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics....

The report’s major recommendations include:

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What Did the U.S. Learn from Ebola? How to Prepare for Bioterrorist Attacks

Thu, 2015-04-23 20:16 — mike kraft

FOREIGN POLICY by Siobhán O'Grady April 13, 2015
When the Ebola virus spread from Guinea to Sierra Leone and Liberia last spring, the initial international response was labeled a failure. By the time President Barack Obama ordered troops to the affected countries in September, more than 2,400 people were dead.

But in the United States, where major hospitals prepared for an outbreak, there were only four in-country diagnoses, one of which resulted in a death. And some see the urgency of that response as a lesson in how the government can prepare for another public health hazard: a bioterrorist attack.

Arizona Rep. Martha McSally chairs a House subcommittee that will examine over the next few months the threat of bioterrorist attacks and U.S. preparedness to respond to them. She told Foreign Policy that even if a disease outbreak and the use of a biological agent in a coordinated attack are not completely analogous, the response strains similar systems.

“We can learn lessons from other outbreaks that are naturally occurring,” she said. “We can identify weaknesses in our response and even if it wasn’t terrorism, it presses the system at the same level....”

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Eleven handed life sentences over Guinea Ebola worker murders

Wed, 2015-04-22 14:01 — mike kraft

REUTERS April 22, 2015

CONAKRY (Reuters) - A court in Guinea has sentenced 11 people to life in prison for murdering a team educating locals about the risks of Ebola in a remote part of the West African country last year, a state prosecutor said on Wednesday.

The broken windshield of an Ebola emergency team vehicle is seen after it had been pelted with stones in Lola

February 9, 2015. REUTERS/Misha Hussain

The bodies of eight people were discovered in September in Womey, a village near the city of Nzerekore around 1,000 km (620 miles) southeast of the capital Conakry.

Some had been hacked to death with machetes or had their throats slit before their bodies were thrown into latrines, witnesses at the trial in Nzerekore said.

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Turning the Page on Ebola

Thu, 2015-04-16 19:28 — mike kraft

Joint Statement by Presidents Alpha Condé of Guinea, Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone. and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia

PROJECT SYNDICATE COMMENTARY April 16, 2015

....The uncontrolled spread of the disease exposed the shortcomings of our national health care systems, as well as regional and global institutions’ weak capacity for coordination and effective response. Simply put, we were ill prepared to cope with, much less prevent, an outbreak on this scale.

We bear a collective responsibility for the thousands of lives lost to Ebola and the tens of thousands affected by the disease. And, today, thanks to institutional improvement and adaptation, we are closer to winning the fight against Ebola. Although the disease has not been contained and eradicated throughout the region, its spread has slowed; now we have to start planning our recovery, which must include strengthening the national, regional, and international systems that protect our people’s lives and futures....

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Obama: World must remain ‘fully engaged’ against Ebola

Wed, 2015-04-15 18:14 — mike kraft

UPDATE with testimony to Congress.

Obama says Ebola-fighting goal is to prevent any new cases

(Scroll down for earlier story and link to Congressional testimony by administration officials)

ASSOCIATED PRESS by Jim Kuhnhenn APRIL 15.

WASHINGTON — Citing significant gains in fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, President Obama declared Wednesday that the international goal now is to prevent any new cases of the deadly virus in the afflicted region....

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, back right, meets with, from left, Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Guinean President Alpha Condé, in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, to discuss progress made in the international Ebola response. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)

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Empty Ebola Clinics in Liberia Are Seen as Misstep in U.S. Relief Effort

Sun, 2015-04-12 13:15 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES by NORIMITSU ONISHI April 12, 2015

MONROVIA, Liberia — As bodies littered the streets and the sick lay dying in front of overwhelmed clinics last year, President Obama ordered the largest American intervention ever in a global health crisis, hoping to stem the deadliest Ebola epidemic in history.

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Ebola virus: Liberia watchdog says $800,000 in funding for fight against outbreak unaccounted for

Thu, 2015-04-09 23:37 — mike kraft

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION April 9, 2015

Liberia's anti-corruption watchdog says some $800,000 in funding to fight the Ebola epidemic has not been properly accounted for, most of it passing through the defence ministry.

A report by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) covering the height of the outbreak last year analysed more than $13 million spent by the National Ebola Trust Fund (NETF).

"The conduct of the affairs of the ... [NETF] were marred by financial irregularities and material control deficiencies," read the report, published on the GAC web site....

The audit did not include donations from international organisations including the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign donors whose contribution did not flow through the NETF.
Read complete story.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-10/liberia-watchdog-says-some-ebola-funds-unaccounted-for/6382402

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Obama briefed on receding Ebola epidemic

Thu, 2015-04-09 21:00 — mike kraft

THE HILL April 8, 2015
Washington --President Obama was briefed Wednesday on the diminishing Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the first time the White House has publicly addressed the disease in several weeks.

Obama met with a team of health and national security advisers in the Situation Room on Wednesday to discuss “what more can be done to get to zero Ebola cases in West Africa,” according to a brief summary of the meeting provided by the White House.

“The President emphasized the urgency of getting to zero, and directed his team to staying engaged to prevent future outbreaks from becoming epidemics,” the statement said....

Money is flowing from the president’s emergency funding request last fall. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has allocated about $350 million out of the $1.2 billion to fight Ebola, its director said in a recent interview.

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http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/238259-obama-briefed-on-ebola-as-epidemic-appears-to-recede

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Liberia names new health minister as it seeks to beat Ebola

Thu, 2015-04-09 20:32 — mike kraft

REUTERS April 8, 2015

MONROVIA - Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has named new ministers for health and education as her government seeks to bring an end to the Ebola outbreak in the West African country and focus on reconstruction.

Sirleaf promoted Bernice Dahn to be the new minister of health after she won plaudits for her role in tackling the Ebola outbreak in Liberia as chief medical officer.

Dahn placed herself in quarantine in September for nearly a month after one of her assistants died of Ebola. She tested negative for the disease....

George Werner, the former head of the civil service agency, was appointed as minister of education. Liberia reopened its schools in February after a six-month hiatus designed to stem the spread of the outbreak. [

Having weathered the outbreak more successfully than its two neighbours, Liberia's economy is expected to grow by 3 percent this year, according to the World Bank.

Read complete story.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN0MZ1JR20150408

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Police fire tear gas on crowd during Sierra Leone Ebola lockdown

Sat, 2015-03-28 22:31 — mike kraft

REUTERS by Josephus Olu-Mammah and Umaru Fofana March 28, 2015
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone --Police fired tear gas at an angry crowd in Sierra Leone on Saturday after they threw stones at officials during a three-day national lockdown that the government hopes will accelerate the end of the Ebola epidemic, residents said.

Sierra Leone has reported nearly 12,000 Ebola cases and more than 3,000 deaths since the worst epidemic in history was detected in neighbouring Guinea a year ago. New cases have fallen sharply since a peak of more than 500 a week in December but the government says the lockdown, its second, is necessary to identify the last cases and to buck a worrying trend towards complacency.

Officials have ordered the six million residents to stay inside on pain of arrest as hundreds of health official go door-to-door looking for hidden patients and educating residents about the haemorrhagic fever.

Hundreds of people left their homes in the Devil Hole neighbourhood outside the capital to gather at a food collection point. Some residents complained they had not received food and fighting broke out until police arrived to scatter the crowd.

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