CSR21 - Risk

Ghana to review mining laws

Mark Nunn — Fri, 29 May 2015 11:47:40 +0000

Ghana to review mining laws

Friday, 29 May, 2015

News on Ghana, via the African Mining Network and writer Yolanda Torrisi, Chairperson of the Network and commentator on African mining issues:

Ghana’s Association of Small Scale Miners is calling for a review of the Minerals and Mining Act to give miners more ability to contribute to economic growth. Its chair, Amissah-Arthur, says legislation in its current state does not reflect the mining industry.

The government is being called on to consider legalising and decentralising licences for small scale miners.

Amissah-Arthur says compensation to land owners could include any claim from the holder of the mineral right compensation to land owners for the disturbance of the rights of the owner or occupier.

Prior to 2006 this did not exist as only crop compensation was paid. Later laws were introduced that land compensation would be paid to the chief or the custodian of the land.

Unfortunately this has allowed conflicts and other disputes to arise because there is no data for prospecting on the 25 acre land that the government allocates and therefore mining is undertaken by trial and error.

According to Amissah-Arthur, paying land compensation is ruining small scale mining across the country. Some miners obtain licences through minerals commissions and others obtain power to mine through the chiefs.

In recent media reports Amissah-Arthur was quoted saying: “This is the clear conflict of what’s going on in mining communities such as Prestea. Similarly, the processes in obtaining a licence are too cumbersome in that, before the Minister is satisfied of the application put before him and signs it, the land may have been exhausted since the process takes about two or three years or even more,” said Amissah-Arthur.

The association is lobbying the government to make the processes flexible.

Read the original piece here.

ENDS

https://www.africanminingnetwork.com/review-of-ghana-mining-laws-wanted-c...

Risk

Hubris under fire in Brazil

Mark Nunn — Mon, 18 May 2015 14:29:57 +0000

Hubris under fire in Brazil

Monday, 18 May, 2015

A quick note to draw your attention to an interesting piece over on inter press service about how “Megaprojects” can ‘Destroy Reputations in Brazil’ (and, one imagines, by extension, anywhere else).

It covers last year’s Petrobras scandal, after which - in the words of the article - “the company lost credibility on an international level [and] its image has been badly stained” and makes wider points about corruption and capacity gaps make megaprojects particularly high-risk in Brazil.

Specific projects to come under fire include the Abreu e Lima Refinery in Northeast Brazil and the Rio de Janeiro Petrochemical Complex (COMPERJ), but the conclusion is wider and concerns most projects of this scope in the country, the majority of which, it argues, “are several years behind schedule.”

Attribution for this includes “resistance from indigenous communities and some environmental authorities”, along with labour strikes and protests – another testimony perhaps to the real world value of getting your community relations right even for the biggest and boldest of projects and actors.

Read the piece in full here.

ENDS

https://www.ipsnews.net/2015/05/megaprojects-can-destroy-reputations-in-b...
https://www.businessinsider.com/afp-scandal-hit-petrobras-first-quarter-r...

Risk

Survey: Industry perceptions on social responsibility in Oil, Gas and Mining

Mark Nunn — Thu, 07 May 2015 11:47:40 +0000

Survey: Industry perceptions on social responsibility in Oil, Gas and Mining

Thursday, 7 May, 2015

Related to our recent decision to cover the 6th Annual Responsible Extractives Summit 2015 [LINK], we thought we’d bring to your attention an interesting survey by the organisers of the conference, Ethical Corporation.

It’s a survey they conducted with 249 Senior CSR Professionals in the extractives industry, free copies of which are available for download here.

The survey looks at:

•   The biggest changes, challenges and opportunities the industry currently faces
•   Who should be responsible for social responsibility and how is the role of CSR changing in the industry?
•   Where the industry’s latest innovations have been made.

Worth a quick look. For the very short of time or lax of attention, the three key points are as follows:

1. Risk mitigation is not enough: 95% of experts believe that social performance should move beyond risk mitigation and focus on generating active support from communities (preaching to the choir here).

2. Social responsibility is everyone’s responsibility: Organisations that can embed stakeholder engagement and social performance into the business culture will benefit from heightened business benefits.

3. More needs to be done with less: Commodity price drops have impacted Oil, Gas and Mining-innovation is needed to create lean management practices and maximize social impacts with reduced budgets.

Not earth shattering perhaps, but more weight behind a growing awareness and maturity in an industry that might perhaps be beginning to understand that the need to address CSR in a serious and substantive fashion isn’t going to go away.

ENDS

IMAGE: from survey report cover

Risk

1 May: read the latest CSR21 newsletter

Mark Nunn — Fri, 01 May 2015 20:06:53 +0000

1 May: read the latest CSR21 newsletter

Friday, 1 May, 2015

Subscribe using the link at the top of the homepage... in the meantime, here's the latest version of our (roughly) weekly newsletter with the top picks from the week that was:

https://us7.admin.mailchimp.com/campaigns/show?id=1070833

Click and enjoy!

Risk

Link: Ebola Digest Wed 1 April

Mark Nunn — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 12:17:11 +0000

Link: Ebola Digest Wed 1 April

Wednesday, 15 April, 2015

As 2015 rumbles on, and even as the epidemic abates, from time to tim we'll run these - the link to the most recent edition of the regular Ebola Digest. There's still considerable risk attached to the aftermath of the epidemic and those active in West Africa (and elsewhere) would do well to keep abreast.

There's a huge amount of info in this excellent resource and we suggest you check out the source. In the meantime we've reproduced key sections of their news digest below, in the hope it may be of particular interest and use to our readers. Today's article image (reproduced from the blog): US-based NIH Doctor Anthony Fauci donning his protective suit to treat a US healthcare worker with ebola.

That link again: https://eboladigest.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/ebola-digest-wed-412015.html

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

Remaining U.S. troops in Liberia committed to stamping out Ebola

Military Times--The small number of troops that remain in Liberia for Operation United Assistance have one duty left to carry out — to no longer be needed. For the remaining 100 U.S. personnel supporting Ebola-related contingencies in Monrovia — down from 2,800 who have deployed to the region in the last six months — the mission is to monitor cases as they tick down to zero and stay there. And their time spent in Liberia depends on that fact alone.

"Our deployment is open-ended," said Army Col. Sven Erichsen, commander of the 48th Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Brigade.

Ebola diaries: Regaining the people's trust

WHO-- "We flew on this tiny aircraft and arrived in the middle of nowhere. There was a landing strip and nothing much else - large spaces dotted with trees, savannah land, you also had these little constructions around. That was 'the airport'. Then there was a 2-hour drive down a really difficult road into Gueckedou. When we got there we immediately started, met up with the head of the health unit, Dr Pépé Bilivogui. He was the local head of the response there and he was just one of the best people I ever worked with. Ebola was totally new to him and everyone else there. Not only the population, the health care workers but also the government responders were totally taken aback by this disease. He told me they really relied heavily on WHO for advice and help.

Vaccination must be scaled up in Ebola-affected countries

WHO-- A growing risk of outbreaks of measles, pertussis, and other vaccine-preventable diseases in countries affected by Ebola must be countered by urgent scaling up of routine immunization activities, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). "We are calling for the intensification of routine immunization services in all areas, and for mass measles vaccination campaigns in areas that are free of Ebola transmission," says Dr Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals at WHO.

LESSONS LEARNED

Ebola Hits Youngest Victims the Hardest, Report Finds

NBC--Ebola takes hold quicker in the very youngest patients and kills more of them, a new report finds. The death rate among babies ranges from 85 to 90 percent among babies under age 1, the World Health Organization's Ebola Response Team, led by Christopher Dye, found. "The case fatality rate was lowest among children between 10 and 15 years of age and highest among those 4 years of age or younger," they write in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine.

As Ebola Crisis Ebbs, Aid Agencies Turn To Building Up Health Systems

NPR--Michelle Niescierenko is a pediatric emergency physician at Boston Children's Hospital. But for the past five months she has been in Liberia, helping the country's 21 public hospitals get back on their feet after the devastating Ebola outbreak there. She says the challenges they face are shocking. A year ago Monday — on March 23, 2014 — the World Health Organization announced that Ebola disease had broken out in West Africa. "Almost all the hospitals that we worked with in Liberia are running on generators," she says. The trouble with generators is that they require fuel.

'Like a sinister family tree' - how Ebola spread: the 4 minute guide
BBC--Hans Rosling, statistician guru, demonstrates the devastating progress of Ebola from a single, solitary case using data from the Ministry of Health in Liberia.

A Visual Guide: Understanding Ebola

BBC--How did the disease start? How did it spread? Statistician Hans Rosling shows you how.

Coping during the Ebola epidemic—and beyond

Harvard--Epidemiologist and infectious disease immunologist Mosoka Fallah, MPH '12, has been on the front lines for many months in his native Liberia battling the Ebola epidemic, which began in December 2013 and spread through several West African countries. He was among the Ebola fighters named Time's 2014 "Person of the Year." In an interview at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Fallah discussed what he learned during the outbreak and what needs to be done now.

REGIONAL SURVEILLANCE

Benin

WHO's Medical Detectives Work With Health Authorities to Solve a Mystery

Infection Control today--On a hot afternoon in November 2014, Benin's minister of health, Dr. Dorothée Kinde Gazard and World Health Organization (WHO) country representative Dr. Youssouf Gamatié visited the Hôpital de Saint Jean de Dieu in Tanguiéta, in the country's northwest. They were in a somber frame of mind. Four employees of the hospital had died from a severe febrile illness, some with signs of a viral hemorrhagic fever, over a period of two weeks – an event that for public health experts sounds the alarm for an outbreak of a dangerous infectious disease. Given the current Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa, one thing immediately came to mind – Benin could become the fourth.

Congo Republic

Deep in the jungle, hunting for the next Ebola outbreak

Washington Post--More than 3,000 miles from the fading Ebola crisis in West Africa, a team of U.S.-funded researchers is hunting deep in a remote rain forest for the next outbreak. They aren't looking for infected people. They're trying to solve one of science's great mysteries: Where does Ebola hide between human epidemics? The answer appears to lie in places such as this — vast tracts of African jungle where gorillas, bats and other animals suspected of spreading the virus share a shrinking ecosystem. If scientists can pinpoint the carriers, and how Ebola is transmitted between them, future epidemics will be easier to anticipate — or even prevent.

Guinea

Guinea finds three Ebola cases in the alumina hub of Fria

Reuters--Guinea has detected at least three new cases of Ebola in the alumina hub of Fria, according to the national coordination of the fight against the disease, as authorities blamed popular resistance for hampering the battle against the virus. The worst detected outbreak of the disease is believed to have killed more than 10,300 people in West Africa, mostly in Guinea, neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In Guinea, more than 2,200 people are believed to have died since the epidemic was first detected a year ago. Some 50 people remain hospitalized in Ebola treatment centers.

Guinea declares Ebola 'health emergency' in five regions

BBC--Guinean President Alpha Conde has declared a 45-day "health emergency" in five regions in the west and south-west of the country over Ebola. The restrictions include the quarantining of hospitals and clinics where new cases are detected, new rules on burials and possible lockdowns. The Ebola outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013.

In January, the World Health Organization reported a steady drop in cases in the three epicentre countries. But renewed concern has been triggered by fresh setbacks in these countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Liberia

Liberia Recommends Ebola Survivors Practice Safe Sex Indefinitely

NYT--The Liberian government recommended on Saturday that survivors of Ebola practice safe sex indefinitely, until more information can be collected on the length of time the virus might remain present in body fluids including semen. Previously, male survivors were advised to abstain from sexual intercourse or to use condoms for three months, reflecting that the active virus had been detected for up to 82 days in semen. Acting on new developments, all countries affected by the Ebola outbreak need to consider applying similar recommendations, said Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations secretary general's special envoy for Ebola.

VOA--For Liberian survivors of Ebola, the struggle is not over. Many have lost property and family members, and often face tremendous stigma after being released from the hospital. Unresolved medical issues are another problem. Despite their suffering, they are still waiting for support a year into the Ebola crisis. Finda Fallah's life turned upside down over the course of one week. She lost seven family members. She herself got infected. When she was discharged from an Ebola treatment center in September, her problems did not stop.

U.S.-Liberia Team Plans Study of Ebola Survivors

All Africa--The Partnership for Research on Ebola Vaccines in Liberia (PREVAIL) a Liberia -U. S. research team, plans to launch a natural history study of Ebola survivors to better understand the after-effects of Ebola virus disease. Four sites in Monrovia and locations in the United States may begin enrollment into this study in the coming months.

Sierra Leone

10 Ebola cases found during Sierra Leone's shutdown

Sierra Leone found 10 new Ebola cases during a three-day countrywide shutdown, an official said Wednesday, declaring that the West African country is now at the "tail end" of the epidemic. Hundreds of sick people were identified on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as health teams went door-to-door in an operation that also aimed to remind people how to prevent Ebola. But only 10 of those people eventually tested positive for the disease, said Alfred Palo Conteh, the head of the country's Ebola response. That figure indicates that there were not hordes of hidden Ebola cases as some had feared. By contrast, during a shutdown in September, when the epidemic was raging, more than 260 new cases were found.

Sierra Leone: Ebola Outbreak Updates - March 31, 2015

Government of Sierra Leone

Risk

New report shows 'cronyism at heart of Myanmar land seizures'

Mark Nunn — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 11:39:58 +0000

New report shows 'cronyism at heart of Myanmar land seizures'

Thursday, 26 March, 2015

A global Witness press release, this one - Click here to read the report.. Rather than summarise, here's the (short) release in full:

- - -

GLOBAL WITNESS PRESS RELEASE

New exposé shows cronyism at heart of land seizures in Myanmar

We expose the military, political and business cronyism at the heart of ethnic minority land seizures in Myanmar

As Myanmar’s junta prepared to step down from government, the military set about seizing public assets and natural resources to ensure its economic control in a new era of democratic rule.

Guns, Cronies and Crops details the collusion at the heart of operations carried out by Myanmar’s armed forces in northeastern Shan State. Large swathes of land were taken from farming communities in the mid-2000s and handed to companies and political associates to develop rubber plantations.

Our investigations reveal those involved, including Myanmar’s current Minister of Agriculture, the country’s ruling USDP party, and Sein Wut Hmon, a rubber company which collaborated with the former military junta to gain control of land.

The report also documents the toxic legacy of these land grabs on an already marginalised population for whom little has changed since the country’s much-lauded transition to civil democracy.

“What we’ve seen in Myanmar’s land sector is a transition from military rule to a form of gangster capitalism. In many cases the army has merely swapped its uniforms for suits, with military officials and their cronies retaining firm control of the country’s land sector.” Josie Cohen, Land Campaigner for Global Witness.

Contacts
London: Alice Harrison, +44 (0) 784 133 8792 [email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]
Yangon: Josie Cohen [email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]
Yangon: Ali Hines [email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]

Click here to read the report.

Risk

Link: Ebola Digest Wed 18 March

Mark Nunn — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 16:09:57 +0000

Link: Ebola Digest Wed 18 March

Thursday, 19 March, 2015

As 2015 rumbles on, and even as the epidemic abates somewhat, we'll continue to run these regularly for the time being - the link to the most recent edition of the regular Ebola Digest.

There's a huge amount of info in this excellent resource and we suggest you check out the source. In the meantime we've reproduced key sections of their news digest below, in the hope it may be of particular interest and use to our readers. Today's article image: "A UNICEF aid worker visits a home in Freetown, Sierra Leone."

That link again: https://eboladigest.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ebola-digest-wed-31815.html

- - -

Ebola Situation Report - 18 March 2015

WHO--A total of 150 new confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) were reported in the week to 15 March, compared with 116 the previous week. There were 95 new confirmed cases reported in Guinea: the highest weekly total for the country in 2015. Sierra Leone reported 55 new confirmed cases over the same period: the country's lowest weekly total since late June 2014. Liberia reported no new confirmed cases for the third consecutive week. March 15 was day 12 since the final patient in Liberia had a second negative test for EVD (42 days must elapse before transmission can be considered to have ended).

Guinea Ebola cases rise, three doctors infected

Reuters--Guinea has suffered a setback in its fight against Ebola with a rash of new cases, including three doctors infected by the virus, with officials blaming weak surveillance and a failure to follow safety procedures. The outbreak, which began in eastern Guinea more than a year ago and has killed over 10,000 people in the three West African countries worst hit, had appeared to be on the wane, but Guinea has seen cases rise for three consecutive weeks, according to World Health Organization data.

Ebola Could Cause Thousands More Deaths — By Ushering In Measles

Wired--Awareness of Ebola is picking up again in the United States: An American volunteer who was working in Sierra Leone has contracted Ebola and been medevac'd to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center for Ebola treatment, and 10 more volunteers have been brought back to NIH, Omaha and Atlanta, to be examined at three of the four institutions in the US that have safe units to house them.

Update on clinical status of patient with Ebola virus disease at the NIH Clinical Center

NIH--NIH physicians have changed the status of the patient with Ebola virus disease being treated at the NIH Clinical Center from serious to critical condition. No additional details about the patient are being shared at this time. ‎NIH has no pending admissions of additional individuals with Ebola virus disease or exposed to the Ebola virus.

Monitored Health Care Worker Develops Symptoms, Moved to Biocontainment Unit

A fifth health care worker is now being monitored for Ebola symptoms in Omaha. That worker joins four others who came into contact with a patient currently being treated at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. One of those original four who were brought here Saturday started showing symptoms, so Nebraska Medicine's biocontainment unit was activated Monday.

The biggest threat to stopping Ebola is thinking that it's over now

Washington Post--The last Ebola patient in all of Liberia was discharged from a treatment center on Thursday. And with that, the country was without a single confirmed case of the dreaded disease. This is amazing. A few months ago, Ebola threatened to overwhelm the nation. Now, even though Ebola still exists in neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea, Liberia is counting the days until it can be considered Ebola-free. That officially comes on April 4. Already, the celebrations have begun.

Another four US Ebola aid workers flown back to US for monitoring

Reuters--Another four U.S. healthcare workers were flown back to the United States for monitoring for possible exposure to the Ebola virus, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. The return of the four U.S. healthcare workers brings to 16 the number of Americans who have returned to the United States from Sierra Leone since Friday, the CDC said.

COUNTERMEASURES

Emergent announces human trial for boosted Ebola vaccine

CIDRAP--Emergent BioSolutions announced yesterday that it has signed an agreement to produce an Ebola vaccine candidate that contains a booster in the form of a modified virus, with a phase 1 trial to launch soon in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, in news regarding health workers in the outbreak region, a Cuban medical team that was one of the first to volunteer announced that it is departing Liberia, and another worker potentially exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone arrived in Nebraska for monitoring.

LESSONS LEARNED

The Next Epidemic — Lessons from Ebola

NEJM--Perhaps the only good news from the tragic Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia is that it may serve as a wake-up call: we must prepare for future epidemics of diseases that may spread more effectively than Ebola. There is a significant chance that an epidemic of a substantially more infectious disease will occur sometime in the next 20 years; after all, we saw major epidemics during the 20th century, including the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918–1919 and the ongoing pandemic of human immunodeficiency virus. In fact, of all the things that could kill more than 10 million people around the world, the most likely is an epidemic stemming from either natural causes or bioterrorism.

Caring for Patients With Ebola Virus in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit

he Nebraska Biocontainment Unit (NBU), the largest high-level isolation unit in the United States, was established in 2005 by Nebraska Medicine, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Designed for care of highly contagious patients—whether infected from an act of bioterrorism, an emerging infectious disease, or a laboratory accident—the NBU is equipped with a host of critical infection control features such as controlled air flow (negative pressurized patient rooms with HEPA-filtered exhaust air), an in-unit Bio-Safety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory, secured unit access, staff shower-out access, and a pass-through autoclave.

Ebola diaries: First signals - March 2014

WHO--Dr Pierre Formenty has spent the past 20 years investigating communicable disease outbreaks, including many Ebola outbreaks. In mid-March 2014, while in Kinshasa, training health care workers to safely take and dispatch blood samples that may contain 'dangerous pathogens' such as Ebola virus, he began receiving emails that got him worried. They described a cluster of cases in Guinea thought to be caused by Lassa virus. But features of the cases and how they occurred made him very concerned that this was not, in fact Lassa fever but possibly Ebola virus disease. Here Dr Formenty describes what it was like to realize that Ebola Zaire had arrived for the first time in the heart of West Africa.

REGIONAL SURVEILLANCE

Guinea

Guinea finalizes plan to eradicate Ebola by April 15

Guinea's authorities in charge of eradication of Ebola epidemic are putting final touches on an interim plan to end the disease by April 15, 2015, an official source has said. This is after the initial plan dubbed "Zero Ebola in 60 days," that elapsed on March 10, 2015 failed to yield the desired results. Fode Tass Sylla, head of communication for the national body charged with fighting Ebola said Sunday the interim plan aims to reinforce the intervention teams in Conakry and neighboring prefectures such as Coyah, Dubreka, Boffa, Kindia and Forecariah.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone: How Ebola Fools Even the Experts

NBC News--Everyone knew the three-year-old boy was at high risk. His mother had died from Ebola and the young children of victims are very likely to catch the virus. So the local Sierra Leonean officials, backed up by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team, checked the family daily. "We were trying to get these family members to tell us things like whether they had a headache or muscle ache," said Beth Ervin, one of the CDC epidemiologists working in the village. She's one of an estimated 150 Americans working for the U.S. government or nonprofit groups to help the country fight an epidemic that's infected more than 24,000 people and killed more than 10,000 of them.

Sierra Leone plans another 3-day shutdown to stop Ebola's spread

Sierra Leone is planning another three-day, countrywide shutdown March 27 through 29 to ferret out Ebola cases, remind people how to protect themselves from the disease and control its transmission. The West Africa Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 10,000 people is declining but the disease has remained stubbornly entrenched in parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone. Liberia, the third country severely affected, currently has no Ebola cases.

Risk

Link: Ebola Digest Wed 11 March

Mark Nunn — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 14:27:27 +0000

Link: Ebola Digest Wed 11 March

Monday, 16 March, 2015

As 2015 rumbles on, and even as the epidemic abates somewhat, we'll continue to run these regularly for the time being - the link to the most recent edition of the regular Ebola Digest.

There's a huge amount of info in this excellent resource and we suggest you check out the source. In the meantime we've reproduced the country-specific section of their news digest below, in the hope it may be of particular interest and use to our readers. Today's article image: "Recovered Ebola patient Beatrice Yardolo, center, surrounded by Chinese military health workers, as she leaves a Chinese Ebola treatment center in Monrovia, Liberia, on Thursday."

That link again: https://eboladigest.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ebola-digest-wed-31115.html

REGIONAL SURVEILLANCE

Liberia

Liberia's Last Ebola Patient Released From Clinic

WSJ--The nation won't be declared 'Ebola-free' until it goes 42 days without a single case. Liberia's last confirmed Ebola patient danced out of a clinic on Thursday, a symbolic moment as West Africa cautiously anticipates the end to the epidemic.

Liberian government closes crematorium in sign of Ebola progress

PBS--The Liberian government has closed and dismantled a crematorium in Monrovia in a move that represents significant progress in the country's fight against the disease, the Associated Press reported. The country had previously imposed cremations because traditional burial practices, which included washing and touching the dead, pose a significant danger of infection.

Ebola in Liberia: are schools ready to reopen?

OxFam--Schools in Liberia have been closed nationwide since August 2014. Some reopened on 16 February 2015 and the majority were supposed to reopen on 2 March 2015. Oxfam and the President of Liberia calls for a $60.5 million upgrade of the nation's schools to help protect against future outbreaks of Ebola.

Liberia's Ebola hunters are trying to strike a death blow to the epidemic

It is evening in the St. Paul Bridge neighborhood of Monrovia, and a team of "contact tracers" is meandering through dirt lanes between colorfully painted houses. The tracers — whose job it is to find and monitor anyone who came into contact with an Ebola patient — used to come just twice a day to this community of cinder block houses, which stretches down either side of the main road that heads north out of the Liberian capital. Now they spend all day and sometimes much of the night here.

Ebola Task Force Assesses Schools In Cape Mount

The National Civil Society Ebola Response Task Force is on an assessment mission in Grand Cape Mount County to ascertain whether the Ebola safety protocols announced by the Ministry of Education are being applied. In January, the Education Ministry announced a code of protocols for a safe learning environment in all schools prior to the reopening of schools.

Sierra Leone

Nearly Halted in Sierra Leone, Ebola Makes Comeback by Sea

NYT--It seemed as if the Ebola crisis was abating. New cases were plummeting. The president lifted travel restrictions, and schools were to reopen. A local politician announced on the radio that two 21-day incubation cycles had passed with no new infections in his Freetown neighborhood. The country, many health officials said, was "on the road to zero." Then Ebola washed in from the sea. Sick fishermen came ashore in early February to the packed wharf-side slums that surround the country's fanciest hotels, which were filled with public health workers. Volunteers fanned out to contain the outbreak, but the virus jumped quarantine lines and cascaded into the countryside, bringing dozens of new infections and deaths.

Strong minds save lives: Providing psychosocial support in Sierra Leone

IFRC--"My nickname is Happy Shower," smiles Jestina Boyle, the Red Cross psychosocial assistance volunteer at the Kenema Ebola treatment centre in eastern Sierra Leone. Through Jestina's encouragement and counselling skills, more patients are experiencing the so-called 'happy shower' which is what survivors go through before crossing the threshold of the restricted high-risk area back to the normal world. The happy shower is an affirmation that they have survived this vicious virus and are washing away the disease.

Sierra Leone: Ebola Virus Disease - Situation Report (Sit-Rep) – 6 March, 2015

Government of Sierra Leone

Ebola crisis could force Sierra Leone to diversify away from mining

As Sierra Leone looks to rebuild after the Ebola epidemic, it may be forced to diversify from a mining-heavy economic base. Falling iron ore prices and the effects of Ebola on the industry signal the need for change, according to the chairman of the Chamber of Mines, who said the diversification could be beneficial.

Risk

Conflict and illegal mining in Central African Republic

Mark Nunn — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 10:50:55 +0000

Conflict and illegal mining in Central African Republic

Tuesday, 10 March, 2015

Central African Republic seldom makes the news but that does’t make life there any less risky—as this Bloomberg piece makes abundantly clear.

Worth a read in full, it’s an examination through the eyes of artisanal miners of how the deterioration in that country’s security situation has affected people and businesses. It’s like a depressing bingo card for things that could go wrong: conflict, illegal taxation, mine invasion, violence, blood diamonds, pit collapses and dead miners, the proliferation of weapons, illegal gold…

As the article points out, “revenue generated by illegal exports of gold, diamonds and other resources is fueling a conflict that has engulfed Central African Republic. At least 3,000 people have died, the United Nations says. More than 2.5 million need urgent humanitarian assistance and about 1 million have fled their homes to neighboring countries or camps.”

There may be some slight hope in sight, though: a UN Security Council team that began a visit to the country this week has an opportunity “to ensure that protection for civilians and justice for the “brutal killings that have ravaged” the country should be at the top of their agenda”—at least according to New York-based Human Rights Watch said in an e-mailed note.

From the article:

“Seleka [a rebel organization] controls “swathes of territory” in Central African Republic’s gold- and diamond-producing regions in the east… One of the militia’s main demands at the start of its rebellion in 2012 was the restitution of gold and diamonds “stolen” by Bozize’s regime, the Antwerp, Belgium-based research group said. Government officials and soldiers were deployed to mining areas in 2008 and confiscated diamonds, it said.

General Audarrassa Mahamat, military coordinator of the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic, a faction of Seleka, denied his soldiers were taxing the workers illegally.

Food, Security

“We don’t take the diamonds or gold,” he said without flinching at the sound of heavy artillery outside his Bambari compound. “The workers give the soldiers money for food and security.”

Mahamat declined to answer repeated questions about the taxes buyers and traders have to pay.

The mine around which this article is centred was previously licensed to Toronto exploration outfit Axmin Inc. but as far back as December 2012 the company “suspended operations at the camp, where it had planned to start producing 200,000 ounces of gold a year, describing the situation in a statement as a “Force Majeure” due to the sectarian violence. Now the mine is a hive of activity, with diggers dotted all over the dusty, yellow-tinged hillside.”

More here. Depressing but worth a read for insight into how, and how badly, things can go wrong.

ENDS

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-08/blood-gold-exports-pour-illeg...
IMAGE: still from article video

Risk

Link: Ebola Digest

Mark Nunn — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 22:48:03 +0000

Link: Ebola Digest

Monday, 9 March, 2015

As 2015 rumbles on and the epidemic abates, we'll continue to run these regularly for the time being - the link to the most recent edition of the regular Ebola Digest.

There's a huge amount of info in this excellent resource and we suggest you check out the source. In the meantime we've reproduced some of their news digest below, in the hope it may be of particular interest and use to our readers. Today's article image: "French scientists presented the results from an Ebola drug trial at a press conference on Monday, they did so with plenty of caveats, but their message was hopeful: The drug, favipiravir, appeared to lower mortality in people with low and medium-high levels of virus in their blood, the researchers told journalists at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) here. The Ebola treatment center in Nzérékoré, Guinea, one of the trial sites."

That link again: https://eboladigest.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/ebola-digest-fri-22715.html

Ebola Situation Report - 25 February 2015

A total of 99 new confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) were reported in the week to 22 February. Guinea reported 35 new confirmed cases. Cases continue to arise from unknown chains of transmission. Transmission remains widespread in Sierra Leone, with 63 new confirmed cases. A spike of 20 new confirmed cases in Bombali is linked to the previously reported cluster of cases in the Aberdeen fishing community of the capital, Freetown. There were 14 new confirmed cases in Freetown over the same period, with cases still arising from unknown chains of transmission in Freetown and elsewhere. Transmission continues at very low levels in Liberia, with 1 new confirmed case reported in the 7 days to 22 February: a registered contact associated with a known chain of transmission in the capital, Monrovia.

Amid uptick in Ebola cases, UN agency cites challenges in reaching affected communities

UN--New cases of Ebola rose again in Guinea and transmission remains widespread in Sierra Leone, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported as it and the UN Ebola response mission both raised concerns about challenges in engaging communities to win the fight against the disease. Both WHO and UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) also noted unsafe burials of those who died from the disease posed as a challenge and that "a significant number" of individuals are still either unable or reluctant to seek treatment for Ebola, which has affected over 23,500 people and killed more than 9,500 mainly in the Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

99 Ebola cases in past week, nearly two-thirds in Sierra Leone - WHO

Reuters--Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone reported 99 new confirmed Ebola cases in the week to Feb. 22, down from 128 the previous week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. Sierra Leone accounted for the bulk of the latest infections with 63, signalling a halt to a steep decline recorded from December through January, followed by Guinea with 35 and Liberia just a single case, the U.N. agency said in its weekly report.

Ending the Ebola Outbreak

NYT--Months of declining cases have fed hopes that the Ebola outbreak might finally be ending. "There are now 10 times fewer people diagnosed with Ebola each week than there were in September last year,"said Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nation's special envoy on the Ebola crisis. The number of new Ebola cases fell rapidly in December and January, but officials with the United Nations and the World Health Organization cautioned that ending the outbreak entirely would be extremely difficult. "The outbreak still presents a grave threat," Dr. Nabarro said. "We have to really work hard to get to what we call zero-zero — zero cases, zero transmissions."

Researchers identify antibodies to fight Marburg virus

Medical News Today--Antibodies have been found to bind to the surface of the virus, which could lead to future antibody treatments and vaccines to target Marburg and other viruses in the family. Marburg virus is up to 90% lethal. Just like the Ebola virus, it can cause hemorrhaging and organ failure. An outbreak of the virus in Angola in 2005 was responsible for the deaths of 329 people, and the worry is that an even bigger outbreak could occur in the future.

Thoughts turn to recovery as Ebola slowly ebbs in West Africa

In the marble atrium of the Mammy Yoko hotel in Freetown, manager Nuno Neves has spotted something he has not seen since the Ebola virus struck Sierra Leone nine months ago: foreign businessmen. The Radisson Blu chain opened the four-star hotel in April to cater for investors in one of Africa's fastest-growing economies. A month later, Ebola crossed the border from Guinea and those investors fled.

Fatality Rate in West Africa Ebola Clinics Is Dropping

NYT--As the Ebola epidemic in West Africa wanes, physicians from Doctors Without Borders are confronting a mystery: More of their patients are surviving. They do not know why.

"The reasons are really unclear," said Dr. Gilles van Cutsem, who helped run the agency's response in Liberia and gave a presentation describing its experience at an AIDS conference here. Doctors Without Borders, better known by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières — has cared for more Ebola patients in West Africa than any other organization. At its peak, it was running 22 centers; it now runs eight.

Ebola: how to prevent a lethal legacy for food security

Guardian--The Ebola outbreak did what outbreaks do: affected movement. People were afraid of the virus and governments made concerted efforts to contain Ebola's spread. In doing so, food-producing parts of the countries found themselves isolated from urban cash economies. Traders willing to maintain trading routes, or with sufficient stock, often hiked prices to capitalise on the increase in demand as people panic-bought. Stocks decreased, prices rose and the purchasing power of people decreased as income-generating activities were affected by the outbreak.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

U.S. Added Speed, Scale to West Africa Ebola Fight

Since Sept. 2014, when U.S. Army Africa leadership arrived in Liberia to help contain the historic outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa, the United States is transitioning its contributions to civilian and nongovernmental organizations there as the World Health Organization reports a drop in confirmed cases. Last month, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby described how the whole-of-government approach led by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, and the Defense Department had mobilized and adapted its resources in an austere environment while supporting a critical mission.

Report Slams U.S. Ebola Response and Readiness

The United States fumbled its response to the Ebola epidemic before it even began, neglecting experiments to make vaccines and drugs against the virus, and cutting funding to key public health agencies, a presidential commission said Thursday. Americans focused on their own almost nonexistent risk of catching Ebola from travelers instead of pressing to help the truly affected nations, the scathing report from the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues says.

U.S. military ends Ebola mission in Liberia

The United States military officially ended a mission to build treatment facilities to combat an Ebola outbreak in Liberia on Thursday, months earlier than expected, in the latest indication that a year-long epidemic in West Africa is waning. Washington launched the mission five months ago and the force peaked at over 2,800 troops at a time when Liberia was at the epicenter of the worst Ebola epidemic on record.

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