Liberia

hitconsultant.net - April 10, 2015

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will soon launch an Ebola mobile app that provides intuitive coaching to clinicians on CDC’s guidelines for proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent transmission of Ebola. 

REUTERS                                               April 8, 2015

MONROVIA  - Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has named new ministers for health and education as her government seeks to bring an end to the Ebola outbreak in the West African country and focus on reconstruction.

Sirleaf promoted Bernice Dahn to be the new minister of health after she won plaudits for her role in tackling the Ebola outbreak in Liberia as chief medical officer.

Dahn placed herself in quarantine in September for nearly a month after one of her assistants died of Ebola. She tested negative for the disease....

George Werner, the former head of the civil service agency, was appointed as minister of education. Liberia reopened its schools in February after a six-month hiatus designed to stem the spread of the outbreak. [

Having weathered the outbreak more successfully than its two neighbours, Liberia's economy is expected to grow by 3 percent this year, according to the World Bank.

Read complete story.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN0MZ1JR20150408

CENTER FOR DISEASES CONTROL by Dickmann P, Kitua A, Kaczmarek P, Lutwama J, Masumu J, Karimuribo E, et al             April 8,2015 

Summary of conference on lessons learned from Ebola crisis

"...A major conclusion was that infectious disease management will work only when it is established with and within the community and not directed against it. This lesson requires community engagement in formulating infection control measures, as well as implementation, dissemination, and promotion of these measures. Infection control procedures are generally perceived as intrusive and, as such, often interfere with local social, cultural, and religious practices.... Building on this process of finding the right, appropriate containment measures, communication and health promotion work best when they involve community and religious leaders, traditional healers, and other advocates.

National and cross-border Ebola outbreaks are a new development, and engagement with various communities has presented a particular challenge throughout the current outbreak. A key aspect of this engagement is to devise and elaborate solutions for infection control that are consistent with local realities and practices. International health and aid organizations must strive to work in concert with communities to find adequate infection-control solutions....

PUBLIC RADIO INTERNATIONAL  by Andrea Crossan                 April 7, 2015

...for those in hospitals suffering, all they see are masks and robot-looking suits of doctors and nurses caring for them. The medics must wear those protective suits to stop them from coming in contact with a patient. But some humanity is stripped away with the intimidating get-up.

Until now.

                      Jianjay Potter and Grace Zardon in Monrovia, Liberia.Credit: Marc Campos

Los Angeles-based artist Mary Beth Heffernan saw the Ebola suits on news reports. She thought about how isolating it was for the patients. And she came up with the idea of taking photos of health workers that could be attached to their protective clothing.

In late February, Heffernan travelled to Monrovia, Liberia to do just that.

She brought cameras, six printers, ink cartridges and sticky labels to print the photos on.