Ebola: A Symptom of Vulnerable Health Systems?

transcript

Presented by:

Amref Health Africa’s Coffeehouse Speakers Series on global development

Featuring:

Dr. David Fisman Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Dr. Isaac Bogoch University Health Network

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine University of Toronto

Quotable

“If I don’t volunteer, who can do this work?”

Kandeh Kamara, one of the volunteers burying bodies across eastern Sierra Leone

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/world/africa/sierra-leone-if-they-survive-in-ebola-ward-they-work-on.html?emc=edit_th_20140824&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=66282052&_r=1

“The most important element of communicating the threat of the Ebola outbreak for both the government and corporate leaders is to provide factual information while also preventing panic and fear.”

Tevi Troy, President, American Health Policy Institute

Quotable

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2014/11/11/what-employers-are-doing-to-counter-ebola/

The WHO says there are now more than 13,240 conrmed, suspected and probable cases, almost all of them in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.

Did you know?

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30019895

A wall depicting the symptoms of Ebola in Monrovia, Liberia

“Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks. Good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventions, namely case management, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, safe burials and social mobilization.”

World Health Organization Fact Sheet

Quotable

Source: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/

Google Trends: Ebola

Nearly 5,000 people have died in the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Did you know?

The most severely affected countries, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have very weak health systems, lacking human and infrastructural resources, having only recently emerged from long periods of conict and instability.

World Health Organization Fact Sheet

Did you know?

Source: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/

Cumulative Deaths up to 11 November

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2014/oct/09/ebola-disease-in-a-day-live

What does it take to mobilize an effective global response to the Ebola outbreak?

Canada’s Response?

$61.6 million CAD to various U.N. agencies, MSF and the International Federation of the Red C ross and Red Crescent Societies.

Source: https://www.devex.com/news/money-not-well-spent-concerns-raised-over-canada-s-response-to-ebola-84590

Source: http://blogs.unicef.org/2014/09/30/ebola-leaving-children-orphaned-in-sierra-leone/

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Ebola: A Symptom of Vulnerable Health Systems?

Health & Medicine