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Automated mobile phone service hopes to stop spread of Ebola in west Africa

Tue, 2014-12-30 17:18 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Mark Anderson Dec. 30, 2014

People in rural areas of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea battling Ebola could be helped by an automated phone service that offers advice about how to avoid contracting the virus.

By getting influential people to record the calls in local languages and dialects, Halt!Ebola believes it could help to stop the spread of the disease, said Michael Chu’no Ike, the firm’s co-founder. Photograph: Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images

Startup company Halt!Ebola is using “robocalling” to reach people where information hotlines are not being used.

The company is trying to acquire mobile phone numbers from the networks operating in these regions to enable them to make the calls. When people answer, an audio message with information and advice about the virus is played back.

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Ebola vaccine 'promising in African populations'

Tue, 2014-12-23 03:19 — mike kraft

BBC By Smitha Mundasad Dec. 22, 2014
The first-ever trial of an Ebola vaccine in Africa shows promising initial results, according to a report in the Lancet medical journal.

Scientists say it is a crucial step as other vaccines have shown lower levels of protection in African populations.

Tests involving Ugandan and American volunteers reveal the vaccine is so far safe and generates an immune response in both populations.

It provides reassurance for other trials currently underway, they say.

No proven vaccine exists to prevent people from getting the disease, though several trials are underway.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health tested this experimental vaccine on healthy adults in Uganda, having first trialled it in the United States.

Dr Julie Ledgerwood, the lead researcher, said: "This is the first study to show comparable safety and immune response of an experimental Ebola vaccine in an African population.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30577776

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Nigerian and British Ebola volunteers fly into Liberia, Sierra Leone

Fri, 2014-12-05 22:21 — mike kraft

Additonal Nigerian and British health workers arrive in Liberia and Sierra Leone to help counter Ebola

(Two stories, scroll down)

REUTERS by James Harding Giahyue and Umaru Fofana Dec. 5, 2014
MONROVIA/FREETOWN --More than 175 Nigerian medics arrived in Liberia and Sierra Leone on Friday to join the fight against Ebola, the first of 600 volunteers promised by the regional giant which contained its own outbreak earlier this year.

An army medic teaches NHS staff how to dispose of potentially contaminated waste last month, before their deployment to Sierra Leone. Photograph: Simon Davis/AFP/Getty Images

The medics will boost weak local health systems that are also struggling to contain other preventable diseases as Ebola discourages people from going to clinics for fear of contracting the fever.

"This is the African spirit you are showing, this is the Nigerian spirit,” Nigeria's ambassador to Liberia, Chigozie Obi-Nnadozie, told 76 Nigerian medics who landed there.

Another 100 volunteers landed in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Months into the Ebola response, experts say they are still short of medical personnel to staff treatment centers.

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African Stars Give ‘Band Aid 30’ Ebola Track Cool Welcome

Fri, 2014-11-28 13:05 — Norea

voanews.com - by Henry Ridgwell - Nov 28, 2014

Dozens of British music stars have come together to record a new version of the song ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ to raise money for the fight against Ebola. But as Henry Ridgwell reports from London, the song has not been universally welcomed in Africa - where local music stars have recorded their own Ebola single.

http://www.voanews.com/media/video/african-stars-give-band-aid-thirty-ebola-track-cool-welcome/2538714.html

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Queen Fears Ebola Push at Expense of Other Killer Diseases

Wed, 2014-11-19 17:56 — mike kraft

ABC NEWS Nov. 19, 2014

By LAMA HASAN

LONDON --Britain's Queen Elizabeth rarely voices her opinion on social issues, but she has publicly worried that all the attention being given to Ebola was at the expense of other killer diseases, like malaria.

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Insurance companies now write Ebola exclusions into policies; offer Ebola-related products

Mon, 2014-10-27 14:43 — mike kraft

HOMELAND SECURITY NEWS WIRE Oct. 27, 2014

U.S. and British insurance companies have begun to write Ebola exclusions into their policies for hospitals, event organizers, airliners, and other businesses vulnerable to disruption from the disease.

As a result, new policies and renewals will become more expensive for firms looking to insure business travel to West Africa or to cover the risk of losses from Ebola-driven business interruptions (BI).The cost of insuring an event against Ebola, for example, would likely be triple the amount of normal cancellation insurance — if the venue was in a region not known to be affected by the virus.

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http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20141027-insurance-companies-now-write-ebola-exclusions-into-policies-offer-ebolarelated-products

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WHO says Ebola vaccine plans accelerating as trials advance

Fri, 2014-10-24 17:23 — mike kraft

WHO ANNOUNCES EBOLA VACCINE TRIALS WILL BE SPEEDED UP TO DECEMBER.
THREE RELATED STORIES. (Scroll down)

REUTERS OCT. 24

By Stephanie Nebehay and Kate Kelland

GENEVA/LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Trials of Ebola vaccines could begin in West Africa in December, a month earlier than expected, and hundreds of thousands of doses should be available for use by the middle of next year, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Vaccines are being developed and made ready in record time by drugmakers working with regulators, the U.N. health agency said, but questions remain about their safety and efficacy which can only be settled by full clinical trials.

"Vaccine is not a magic bullet, but when ready they may be a good part of the effort to turn the tide against the epidemic," senior WHO official Marie-Paule Kieny told a news briefing after a meeting in Geneva of industry executives, global health experts, drug regulators and funders.

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UK pledges £80m more aid to tackle Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone

Fri, 2014-10-24 00:23 — mike kraft

UPDATE: EUROPEAN UNION ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL FUNDING, NAMES AN EBOLA COORDINATOR

NEW YORK TIMES

By James Kanter and Andrew Higgins OCT. 24, 2014

BRUSSELS--

... Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, announced tody that Christos Stylianides, the coming European commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, would be named Ebola coordinator.

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Ebola Outbreak Erodes Recent Advances in West Africa

Wed, 2014-10-22 11:59 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES Oct. 22, 2014

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

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EU seeks $1.27 billion in Ebola aid for W. Africa

Tue, 2014-10-21 14:32 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS Oct. 20, 2014

By Raf Casert

LUXEMBOURG (AP) — The European Union committed itself Monday to step up efforts toward getting 1 billion euros ($1.27 billion) in aid to fight Ebola in West Africa and rejected the idea of halting direct flights coming from the region.

The EU foreign ministers set off a week of continentwide action with a pledge "to play an active role in enhancing the international response" to Ebola, which so far has been late and insufficient to contain the deadly virus that has claimed at least 4,500 lives.

British Prime Minister David Cameron wants a two-day summit of the 28 EU leaders ending Friday to reach the $1.27 billion aid threshold, agreeing on a variety of topics from more financial aid to common repatriation procedures, more Ebola treatment facilities and better training for health care workers.

...So far, the overall anti-Ebola total for the EU, including EU national contributions, stands at 500 million euros ($640 million), with Britain contributing 160 million euros ($204 million). The Netherlands also promised to send a frigate to West Africa to help, matching a similar contribution from Britain.

EU ministers rejected the idea of scrapping flights from West Africa to keep the virus out of Europe.

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