The World Health Organization confirmed Wednesday that the rate of Ebola infections appeared to be slowing in hard-hit Liberia, but warned the crisis was far from over. From AFP:
“It appears that the trend is real in Liberia and there may indeed be a slowing of the epidemic there,” WHO assistant director-general Bruce Aylward told reporters in Geneva.
“There is increasing evidence that these countries can get on top of this,” he said.
Aylward added, though, that he was “terrified that the information will be misinterpreted and that people will begin to think Ebola is under control.”
“That is like thinking your pet tiger is under control,” he warned, pointing out that the deadly outbreak had seemed to slow previously only to come back with more gusto.
Later on Wednesday, the WHO is set to publish the latest death toll from the Ebola outbreak that has been ravaging west Africa, with the number of deaths expected to pass the 5,000 mark. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have been most affected.
Washington meanwhile ordered a 21-day quarantine for all US troops returning from west Africa, calling it a “prudent” measure to prevent the spread of the virus.
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Spotlight on PSI
Still looking for the perfect Halloween costume? At PSI we do whatever it takes to get life-saving health information to people, and often costumes are the perfect way to get people’s attention. Regina Moore shares some of the costumes we’ve used over the years in the PSI Impact blog. Here are a few:
The Prevention Squad in Angola
What better way to get a child’s attention than superheroes keeping people safe? PSI/Angola introduced the Esquadrão da Prevenção, or Prevention Squad, to motivate children to help fight two of the largest killers of children under five, malaria and diarrheal disease. The members of the squad represent key efforts to fight childhood illness – a commander who shoots malaria nets to protect sleeping children, a captain who treats water to make it safe to drink, a goofy lieutenant who plays with soap bubbles and clean water to encourage kids to wash their hands, and the doctor who invented the team and makes sure that treatment is available when prevention efforts fail.
PSI/Angola used television, radio, life-size posters, comic books and, of course, costumes to enlist “Little Commanders” to play the role of superheroes and teach their parents about protecting themselves from malaria and water-borne illnesses.
Condom Police in Guatemala
During Semana Santa, or Holy Week, in Latin America, many take to the roads for a beach vacation. PSI’s Central American network member, PASMO, saw this as a perfect opportunity to educate people about condom use. They created the Condom Police.
“Do you have your ID with you? Are you protected? Are you carrying condoms?” asked the Condom Police as they passed out free samples of PASMO’s leading condom brand Vive. The Condom Police chatted with vacationers about the importance of protecting themselves during sex, handed out educational materials and directed them to local pharmacies and condom outlets to purchase more as needed.
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Global Health and Development Beat
Food security and malnutrition rates across the Sahel are deteriorating, with nearly 25 million food insecure, due in large part to ongoing conflict and instability in the CAR, northern Mali, and northeast Nigeria, according to UNOCHA.
West Africa missed out on significant health investment over the past decade or more because it had low rates of HIV, a detailed survey of the changing health of Africa and Asia reveals.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned Wednesday that Somalia risks returning to famine without urgent aid, as he visited the war-torn country three years since more than 250,000 people died of hunger.
The Disasters Emergency Committee is to launch an unprecedented appeal for help from the public to tackle the Ebola crisis in west Africa, warning that a medical emergency is turning into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Bangladeshi and UK scientists are collecting more evidence on the links between climate change and water quality, and the resulting health impact. They are also testing effective, safe and affordable measures to provide healthy water to coastal communities.
Years of fewer births mean the number of working-age people in Cuba is expected to shrink starting next year, terrible news for an island attempting to jumpstart its stagnant centrally planned economy. The country’s governing Council of Ministers announced this week that it will soon unveil yet-unspecified financial incentives for couples considering starting families.
South African mining tycoon Patrice Motsepe has donated $1 million to the Ebola Fund to help fight the disease that has killed nearly 4,900 people, his firm said.
Risk of acute malnutrition increasing among children in Somalia, says a new Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit report.
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Buzzing in the Blogs
The good news is that overall global health aid and official development assistance is up, but donors are still not meeting their targets. David Olson explains for Global Health TV blog:
Financing Global Health 2013: Transition in an Age of Austerity shows that although development assistance for health (DAH) reached an all-time high of $31.3 billion in 2013, the 4% growth from 2012 to 2013 “falls short of the rapid rates seen over 2001-2010, which topped 10% annually.
The report shows that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and tobacco control received little funding, especially when one considers the substantial burden of disease associated with NCDs. For the first time, the report measured funding for tobacco control, which totaled $68 million in 2011. In comparison, funding for HIV/AIDS (the health issue receiving the most funding in 2011) was 113 times as large as the funding for tobacco control.
The Aid Transparency Initiative 2014 shows that overall, aid donors are showing signs of improve transparency but most are still a long way from meeting their commitments to publish using Aid Transparency Initiative standards.
The United Nations Development Program, the Department for International Development (of the U.K.), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (of the U.S.) and GAVI were found to be the four most transparent donors. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria was Number 10.
However, U.S. agencies were much lower on the list: The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Number 30) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (31) were rated on the low side of “fair” and the U.S. Department of State (32) was rated as “poor,” according to the Aid Transparency Index 2014. Some good news: PEPFAR showed the greatest improvement among the U.S. agencies and PEPFAR Coordinator Deborah Birx says that PEPFAR is committed to strengthening transparency further.
With one year before the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals, there has never been a better time for donors to truly meet their aid commitments and meet them in a transparent way.
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Capital Events
Thursday
12:00 PM – Education Innovations in Pakistan: A Look at DFID Programs – SID
Friday
11:00 AM – Cultural Adaptation and Translation in Autism Research: Global Perspectives – Elliot School
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By Mark Leon Goldberg and Tom Murphy
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Disclaimer: Opinions presented in this email do not necessarily reflect the views of PSI.
