Just over six months since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, civic freedoms remain under threat across the world. A new brief released by the CIVICUS Monitor documents ongoing and unjustifiable restrictions on the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression. The brief also finds …
The number of deaths attributed to an epidemic of Ebola virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone stood at 467 by Monday, out of 759 known cases in total, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The outbreak of the deadly disease is already the largest and deadliest ever, …
An epidemic of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa is now “out of control” with more than 60 outbreak hotspots, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Monday. “The scale of the current Ebola epidemic is unprecedented in terms of geographical distribution, people infected and deaths,” MSF …
The deadliest-ever outbreak of the Ebola virus has surged in West Africa after slowing briefly, and the pandemic is now "out of control," according to Doctors Without Borders. Nearly 600 infections and 340 Ebola-related deaths have been recorded in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the most since the virus was …
The number of people killed by the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa has risen to 337, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. Fourteen deaths and 47 new cases were reported across the region over the last week, it added. Guinea is worst-affected with 264 Ebola-related deaths. In Sierra …
The deadly Ebola virus has killed seven people in Liberia's capital, Monrovia, health officials have said. These are the first deaths reported in the city since the outbreak of the contagious virus in several West African states. Among the dead are a nurse and four people from the same household, …
NO fewer than 12 have died from Ebola in Sierra Leone in a week, local health authorities said on Monday, as the spread of the disease that has killed over 200 people in Guinea and Liberia deepened. According to the report published yesterday in Reuters.com, the mounting deaths in Sierra …
Few viruses can boast of being the inspiration for hit dance tunes. But then ebola — which can kill up to 90 per cent of victims, has no vaccine or cure, and causes horrific internal and external bleeding — is not your average pathogen. When an epidemic struck west Africa’s …
An Ebola outbreak blamed for 135 deaths in West Africa in the past month was not imported from Central Africa but caused by a new strain of the disease, a study in a U.S. medical journal said, raising the specter of further regional epidemics. The spread of Ebola from a …
In March 2014, the World Health Organization was notified of an outbreak of a communicable disease characterized by fever, severe diarrhea, vomiting, and a high fatality rate in Guinea. Virologic investigation identified Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV) as the causative agent. Full-length genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis showed that EBOV from Guinea …
An outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa, with onset in early February 2014, is evolving in Guinea and Liberia. This is the first such outbreak in the area. The first cases were reported from the forested region of south-eastern Guinea. As of 7 April 2014, the Ministry …
Mali said it had identified its first possible cases of Ebola since the start of an outbreak in neighboring Guinea, adding to fears that the deadly virus was spreading across West Africa. More than 90 people have already died in Guinea and Liberia in what medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres …
Despite World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification of two safe and effective oral cholera vaccines (OCV), concerns about the acceptability, potential diversion of resources, cost and feasibility of implementing timely campaigns has discouraged their use. In 2012, the Ministry of Health of Guinea, with the support of Médecins Sans Frontières organized …
The government of Liberia and the World Bank have signed an agreement to finance the Liberian section of the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP), which also involves three other countries in the region. According to a statement reaching Xinhua on Tuesday, the agreement was signed at the World Bank Headquarters …
New Delhi Pulling up the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government over the alleged illegal clinical drug trials in the country, the Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern over the issue, saying it was ‘unfortunate’ that humans were being treated as ‘guinea pigs’. Coming down heavily on the state government, …
Crop-raiding is a major source of conflict between people and wildlife globally, impacting local livelihoods and impeding conservation. Conflict mitigation strategies that target problematic wildlife behaviours such as crop-raiding are notoriously difficult to develop for large-bodied, cognitively complex species. Many crop-raiders are generalist feeders. In more ecologically specialised species crop-type …
An MoU to this effect will be signed between the parties concerned and the Government of Guinea Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has completed a suitability study in Guinea for promoting corporate farming through its Agro Business Development (ABD) Directorate and an incubatee, Top Worth Group of Companies. A Memorandum …
Infant mortality in Equatorial Guinea appears to have declined since the discovery of oil in the 1990s, according to an assessment by the World Bank and other international agencies. Revising and ironing out contradictions in previous data, some of which found that infant mortality had risen despite an influx of …
Insecticide treated nets (ITN) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) are the two pillars of malaria vector control in Africa, but both interventions are beset by quality and coverage concerns. Data from three control programs were used to investigate the impact of: 1) the physical deterioration of ITNs, and 2) inadequate …
In 2002 CREPA initiated a regional research and demonstration programme on ecological sanitation in seven West African countries. ECOSAN is focused on simultaneously improving sanitation and food production. This is done by making urine and faeces more hygienic and then using them as safe fertilisers. Demonstrations showed that crops fertilised …
The current food crisis has been largely policy-driven, which is probably good news because it means that policies can also reverse the process. THIS is not a sudden and unexpected crisis: the signs have been around for some time now. Even though international bureaucrats have been referring to the current …