huffingtonpost.com - August 15th 2016 - Anna Almendrala

Now that Zika virus is spreading locally in Florida, U.S. residents, and especially pregnant women, are growing alarmed at the risk that they may face in their own communities. 

A new map estimating the risk of local Zika spread around the globe shows a relatively small likelihood that most of North America and Northern Asia will be affected. By contrast, all the variables are in place for local spread in most of Africa, South and Southeast Asia. 

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cdc.gov - July 8, 2016

Summary

Establishing a functional incident management system (IMS) is important in the management of public health emergencies. In response to the 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease (Ebola) epidemic in West Africa, CDC established the Emergency Management Development Team (EMDT) to coordinate technical assistance for developing emergency management capacity in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. EMDT staff, deployed staff, and partners supported each country to develop response goals and objectives, identify gaps in response capabilities, and determine strategies for coordinating response activities. To monitor key programmatic milestones and assess changes in emergency management and response capacities over time, EMDT implemented three data collection methods in country: coordination calls, weekly written situation reports, and an emergency management dashboard tool. On the basis of the information collected, EMDT observed improvements in emergency management capacity over time in all three countries. The collaborations in each country yielded IMS structures that streamlined response and laid the foundation for long-term emergency management programs.

worldbank.org

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2016—In Guinea, Sierra Leone and Senegal, more than 33.3 million people will benefit from stronger health systems and more effective disease surveillance systems through US$110 million in International Development Association (IDA) financing, approved yesterday by the World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors. This is the first in a series of investments planned under the Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement Program (REDISSE), which aims to address systemic weaknesses within the human and animal health sectors that hinder effective disease surveillance and response. The REDISSE program was developed with financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and technical support from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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disasterlit.nlm.nih.gov - June 30, 2016

This 57-page report summarizes a request to capture critical lessons from the Ebola epidemic of 2014-2016 and review the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)'s international and domestic responses. It summarizes an Independent Panel's assessment of HHS's challenges, and, where appropriate, challenges facing the broader U.S. government. It describes notable opportunities for improvement in leadership and organization, communication, management, and logistics, as well as in development and use of vaccines and treatments. It also presents recommendations for addressing future urgent public health threats.

CLICK HERE - ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND ACCESS TO THE REPORT - Report of the Independent Panel on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Ebola Response

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CLICK HERE - ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND ACCESS TO THE REPORT - Report of the Review Committee on the Role of the International Health Regulations (2005) in the Ebola Outbreak and Response

SPL

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Nature - Toremifene interacts with and destabilizes the Ebola virus glycoprotein

bbc.com - by James Gallagher - June 30, 2016

The painkiller ibuprofen and the cancer drug toremifene can disable the Ebola virus, say researchers.

Scientists used the UK's national synchrotron facility - Diamond Light Source - to analyse the virus in incredible detail.

They revealed the two drugs could bind to the crucial part of Ebola that the virus needs to infect cells.

However, the team warns this is just a starting point and more effective drugs need to be researched.

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ADDITIONAL REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED BELOW:

Toremifene interacts with and destabilizes the Ebola virus glycoprotein
http://www.nature.com/nature/archive/subject.html?code=326

Toremifene interacts with and destabilizes the Ebola virus glycoprotein
http://www.nature.com/subjects/ebola-virus

Image:  People shopping at a market in Lagos, Nigeria. Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

theguardian.com - June 28th 2016 - Kweifio-Okai and Josh Holder

Global population hit 7.3 billion midway through 2015, an increase of 2 billion since 1990. It will continue to climb steadily, according to forecasters, reaching 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100.

But there is more to the population story than unprecedented numbers.

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More than a billion people on a wider perspective suffer from chronic malnutrition and hunger. In spite of official pledges to halve the world's hungry, the trend now runs in the opposite direction. More than thirty million people die of malnutrition and starvation every year - nearly 100,000 every day.

Spatial distribution of simulated LAS spill-over events across its endemic region in western Africa for (a) present day, and (b) projected for 2070 under a medium climate and full land cover change scenario. Values represent the expected number of spill-over events per grid cell per year, and are represented on a linear color scale where green is all simulations and grey zero. Axis labels indicate degrees, in a World Geodetic System 84 projection. Filled black circles represent locations of historic LAS outbreaks.  Credit: Redding et al. UCL

CLICK HERE - Predicting disease outbreaks using environmental changes

sciencedaily.com - June 13, 2016

A model that predicts outbreaks of zoonotic diseases -- those originating in livestock or wildlife such as Ebola and Zika -- based on changes in climate, population growth and land use has been developed by a team of researchers.

CLICK HERE -UCL - Predicting disease outbreaks using environmental changes

who.int

A yellow fever outbreak was detected in Luanda, Angola late in December 2015. The first cases were confirmed by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa on 19 January 2016 and by the Institut Pasteur Dakar (IP-D) on 20 January. Subsequently, a rapid increase in the number of cases has been observed.

CLICK HERE - FULL SITUATION REPORT AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

CLICK HERE - WHO - Yellow Fever

CLICK HERE - reliefweb - Angola

CLICK HERE - ECDC - Epidemiological update: Outbreak of yellow fever in Angola

By Memunatu Bangura

Deputy Minister of Health and Sanitation 1, Madina Rahman, has said that the current water crisis in Freetown and its environs might cause a cholera outbreak and other water borne diseases.

"Because of the areas where people go to fetch water, I am worried that we may experience water borne diseases," she noted.

Madam Rahman was updating newsmen last Thursday at a presser held at the Ministry of Information and Communications, Youyi building in Freetown.

She said the country was challenged by acute water shortage and that she was worried there could be a serious disease outbreak because people collect drinking water from unprotected sources without boiling or filtering.

She said about 1.8 million people die from cholera and other water borne diseases annually around the world, adding that it was a concern for the government.

CLICK HERE - WHO - Disease Outbreak News - Haemorrhagic fever syndrome – South Sudan - 19 May 2016

npr.org - Michaeleen Doucleff - May 31, 2016

The last time, we heard about a "mysterious hemorrhagic fever" in a country, it was February 2014. The outbreak was in Guinea. And by the time doctors had pinpointed the culprit, Ebola was spiraling out of control in West Africa.

The situation in South Sudan today is a far cry from that in West Africa a few years ago. But it's still concerning, the World Health Organization said.

So far, there have been 51 cases — including 10 deaths — from an unknown disease in the northern part of South Sudan. The main symptoms of the disease are similar to those seen with Ebola: unexplained bleeding, fever, fatigue, headache and vomiting.

But the culprit definitely isn't Ebola.

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Zidane Konneh woke up in a body bag moments before he was due to be buried in an Ebola grave. A doctor saw his toe flinch and he was hauled out of the bag, while medics found a weak heartbeat and placed him on IV drips — which saved his life.

The father-of-two had tested positive for the virus after catching it from family members in June 2014. He lost almost all his family to Ebola.

He said: “They were about to take me to be buried, but there was an American doctor around and saw part of my body shaking. They found my heartbeat. I was taken from the body bag and given four IV drips at the same time.

Employees of Sierra Rutile Limited (SRL)-from management to senior staff, have offered to provide teaching assistance to Imperi Secondary School; the largest secondary school in SRL’s operational area.

For the past years, the output of pupils at Imperi School, especially in public exams, has not been encouraging. This, according to findings, is as a result of ill-equipped staff and lack of relevant teaching materials.