Lack of trust is fuelling Ebola fear in LiberiaNAIROBI, 3 September 2014 (IRIN) – Decades of corruption, deep-rooted mistrust of government and weak public services in Liberia have hastened the spread of the Ebola virus, and much more needs to be done to bridge a communication gap between government and citizens, say civil society groups and analysts.On 30 August, authorities lifted an enforced quarantine on the West Point area of Monrovia, 10 days after police officers sealed the slum, fuelling frustration and sparking clashes in which a 15-year-old boy was killed.After the lifting of the cordon, West Point residents marched…
Author: ARIN News
Follow @{0}Testing for Ebola. A few have overcome the deadly virusDAKAR, 27 August 2014 (IRIN) – Amid the horror of Ebola in West Africa, where more than 1,400 people have died of the disease, a few have found reason to celebrate after recovering from the virulent infection which has no known cure.Current Ebola treatment is mainly palliative: easing the headache, fever and muscle pain triggered by the virus, which also causes vomiting and diarrhoea, and in some cases internal and external haemorrhage. It killed up to 90 percent of patients in the early days of the outbreak in the Democratic…
Follow @{0}In need of a cure. Ebola test vaccines raise hopes and worries DAKAR, 21 August 2014 (IRIN) – Ebola’s devastation in West Africa has catapulted experimental drugs from labs to patients and shaken up vaccine development, which was hitherto patchy as outbreaks of the virus have tended to be spasmodic and geographically limited.“There is no market for Ebola vaccines,” Marie-Paule Kieny, World Health Organization (WHO) assistant director-general, told IRIN. “Outside of an outbreak, who would want to get vaccinated against Ebola? Nobody. Therefore the market is inexistent more or less. So there was not that much investment into developing…
Follow @{0}Ebola has killed dozens of physicians across West Africa DAKAR, 19 August 2014 (IRIN) – Today is World Humanitarian Day when the UN sets out to recognize those who face danger and adversity in order to help others. This year the UN and aid agencies are highlighting humanitarian heroes who have made huge sacrifices to help others in need.Doctors Samuel Brisbane, from Liberia, and Dr Sheikh Umar Khan from Sierra Leone both died after contracting the Ebola virus which, as of 16 August, had infected 2,240 West Africans, and killed 1,229. IRIN spoke to their fellow workers.Dr Samuel Brisbane,…
Follow @{0}Restraining protests against insecurity caused by the “microbes” ABIDJAN, 18 August 2014 (IRIN) – Children and teenagers who were drawn into Côte d’Ivoire’s 2010-2011 post-election conflict are joining armed gangs in the commercial capital Abidjan after being abandoned by politicians and others who exploited them at the time, according to local officials who blame the government for not taking action.Aged 10-20, the youngsters roam Abidjan districts, robbing residents and stall-owners using firearms and other weapons, and in some cases killing those who try to resist. The gang refer to themselves as “microbes” – slang for “cold-blood murder”.“The problem is…
Follow @{0}A health worker extracting blood to test a patient for EbolaDAKAR/MONROVIA, 12 August 2014 (IRIN) – While Ebola treatment and containment efforts are gradually gaining pace in Sierra Leone and Liberia, there are still far too few health workers, contact tracers and community monitors on the ground to keep up with the disease’s spread, particularly in urban areas, say Health Ministry staff and aid workers.”It’s hard for us to cut transmission rates,” Liberia’s Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyensuah told IRIN. “Most of the hospitals in Monrovia are still not fully operational. More community surveillance is needed. We don’t have…
Follow @{0}Calling for peace. Opposition is growing against plans to abolish presidential term limits OUAGADOUGOU, 11 August 2014 (IRIN) – Burkina Faso’s next elections are not due until November 2015, but political tensions have risen in the past year owing to suspicions that President Blaise Compaoré is looking to prolong his 27-year rule by contesting the polls.An expanding coalition of opposition groups and civil society organizations has staged rallies calling for Compaoré’s departure and promising to build momentum and force a change. Compaoré has not explicitly said he will seek re-election, but plans for a constitutional referendum to scrap the…
Eyes and ears – Civilian JTF roadblock in MaiduguriMAIDUGURI, 11 August 2014 (IRIN) – Young men with machetes manning road blocks is usually a bad sign. In Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri, for years tormented by the Boko Haram insurgency, it actually signifies progress.Rather than the military’s Joint Task Force (JTF), it is these volunteer vigilantes dubbed “Civilian JTF” that are largely credited with pacifying the city over the past year. Whereas the often blundering and brutal JTF regarded everyone in Maiduguri as a potential Salafist, the community-rooted volunteers – officially the Borno Youth Association for Peace and Justice -actually…
Follow @{0}MNLA fighters patrolling in Djebok, Gao regionPeace talks on shaky ground Rebel groups fragmented Community cohesion weakened Malian, international troops struggling BAMAKO/KIDAL, 7 August 2014 (IRIN) – Continued violence in northern mali which saw three separatist rebel groups retake control of much of the north, has put peace talks set for August, and the July roadmap to peace signed by rebel groups and the Malian government, on shaky ground.After fighting broke out between rebel groups and government troops in Kidal town in May, Malian forces withdrew, paving the way for the three separatist groups to gain control of much…
Follow @{0}Insecurity is hampering efforts to curb the outbreak YAOUNDÉ, 6 August 2014 (IRIN) – Rains and insecurity caused by Nigerian Islamist militants are aggravating a cholera outbreak in northern Cameroon which has killed at least 75 people and infected some 1,400 others since April. Water scarcity, poor public health care and risky hygienic practices have rekindled the disease which badly hit the country between 2009 and 2011, experts say.Population movement during the current school holidays could help spread infections to other regions of Cameroon or even to neighbouring countries, said Félicité Tchibindat, a UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative in…