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  • Red Cross Ups Its Response to Ebola Crisis in West Africa, Death Toll Continues To Rise

    The Red Cross says it plans to train more than 2,000 extra volunteers in an effort to combat the deadly Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

    “With dozens of new cases emerging daily, this outbreak is showing no signs of slowing down,” said Alasan Senghore, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Africa unit, in a statement on Thursday.

    “People are dying. If we are serious about stopping Ebola, we cannot afford to delay ramping up our response,” he said.

    Since the outbreak began in March, IFRC said it has already trained approximately 3,500 volunteers in the three hardest-hit countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. With the additional trainees, the IFRC hopes to bring that number to over 5,600 volunteers.

    A reported 2,296 deaths attributed to Ebola have been reported in those three countries, according to the World Health Organization.

    “Engaging communities through our trained volunteers will have an immediate and large pay-off, as messages of prevention will be shared by community members themselves,” Senghore said.

    IFRC said it was significantly revising its fundraising goals to $32.3 million, an increase of more than $25 million, in oder to address the devastation in west Africa.

    With increased funding, the organization plans to reach 21.9 million people — more than double the number it had originally targeted — by expanding its operations into new districts and countries.

    Much of the funding will be used for increased communication and awareness-raising in affected communities. It would also help pay for a new 60-bed Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone.

    In addition to the three hardest-hit countries, IFRC said it has also launched an emergency appeal for $1.6 million to fund operations in Nigeria, where eight people have died from Ebola.

    It has also upped its response in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 35 people have died from a different strain of Ebola.

  • Ebola Treatment Center In Guinea – Attacked

    Ebola Treatment Center In Guinea – Attacked

    Since the Ebola outbreak that began in January, 86 people have died in Guinea alone, while the disease is spreading into other regions and hundreds more are infected with this deadly virus.

    The deaths and dreaded illness have people frightened, angry and distraught – they’ve lost loved ones and have been isolated, while the disease continues to spread.

    Perhaps that could explain why an angry mob attacked health workers at a center where victims were being held in isolation, prompting an international aid group to temporarily evacuate its team, officials said Saturday.

    The angry crowd accused the staff of bringing the deadly disease to the town, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) or (Doctors Without Borders) said, as Mali identified its first suspected cases.

    The medical charity has warned that this virus could turn into an unprecedented epidemic in such an impoverished region with extremely poor health services.

    What is problematic is that there were many people who went undiagnosed while health agencies spent time trying to confirm the virus as Ebola hemorrhagic fever. This is the first time this deadly disease broke in an area that was not an isolated section of Africa.

    News of the outbreak has sent shockwaves through communities with little knowledge of the disease or how it is transmitted, and the suspected cases in Mali have added to fears that it is spreading in West Africa.

    The attacks on health workers occurred in the southern town of Macenta, where at least 14 people have died since the outbreak emerged last month.

    Some young people threw rocks at the aid workers, though no one was seriously hurt, said Sam Taylor, a spokesman for Doctors Without Borders.

    “We understand very well that people are afraid because it is a new disease here,” Taylor said. “But these are not favorable working conditions so we are suspending our activities.”

    Patients are continuing to receive treatment from Guinean health ministry personnel, Taylor said.

    Guinea’s government immediately condemned the attack in a statement, saying that Doctors Without Borders and other international aid groups are they key to stopping the spread of Ebola.

    “The international community has rapidly mobilized to help us in these difficult moments with considerable medical support and specialists on the ground at the disease’s epicenter,” the statement said. “That’s why the government is calling on people to stay calm and allow our partners to help us eradicate this epidemic.”

    Although some have survived, there is no cure for Ebola. It causes fever, severe bleeding and usually 90 percent of infected patients die.

    And some patients are held for observation, and then transferred to another area if they are confirmed to have Ebola, which is the process that caused the attack.

    There appears to be confusion about the process in transferring patients to isolation. Resident Kolie Martin accused doctors of transferring patients to the isolation ward who had not tested positive for Ebola.

    “As soon as someone is brought here, they don’t try to figure out whether he is sick or not, they just transfer him directly to the sick ward. So it’s them who are killing the people who are in good health,” Martin said.

    However, the process is necessary to keep people who could be harboring the virus in isolation, to eliminate further spreading of the disease.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) says that Ebola is carried by fruit bats living in West Africa. They emphasize it can only be spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is infected. But that hasn’t stopped fear and misinformation from spreading.

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