Ghana on Friday recorded what turned out to be the first case of death from the fast spreading Ebola virus.
On Friday afternoon, a Burkinabe man, who had general symptoms of Ebola, including fever, nose and ear bleeding, was reported to have been taken to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital dead on arrival.
The man was brought through the border from Burkina Faso to Ghana by his relatives who wanted proper medical care for him but he died on the way.
Dr. Joseph Yaw Manu confirmed to StarrFMonline.com that the man had died at the time he was brought in to the hospital.
Manu said: “What scared me most as a Medical Doctor is that he was bleeding from his ears and nose – symptoms of Ebola.” Manu has since sent blood samples of the deceased for testing to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research at the University of Ghana.
Women of Ogoniland in the Nigerian Niger Delta region have lamented how they are, after decades of oil exploration by Shell in their community, suffering extensive land degradation and deprivation.
In the search for potable water. Photo courtesy: www.ogonicharity.camp7.org
They lamented recently at a gathering in Bori-Ogoni, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, that the venture has greatly impoverished the people with heavy pollution of their land and waters and resulting destruction of their livelihoods as farmers and fishermen.
They noted that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report raised serious alarm over pollution of Ogoni land and agreed that the health of Ogoni women and elders have been greatly impacted by the ecological impunity. They listed infertility, infant and maternal mortality, diabetes, cancer, stroke, blindness, respiratory diseases and shortened life expectancy as direct consequences of the pollution.
The women condemned in particular the attempt to side-track the UNEP recommendations by establishing the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Programme (HYPREP) without any legal backing and without a clear mandate, instead of establishing an Ogoni Environmental Restoration Authority and a matching fund.
They also regretted that, three years after the report confirmed that their water bodies have been contaminated with cancer-causing (or carcinogenic) agents, they were still forced to depend of such water sources for drinking, bathing and other uses.
They condemned continued attempts to grab the remaining land for commercial agriculture without the consent of the people.
After two days of consultations, paper presentations and dramatisation, poetry and songs at the forum with the theme “Women and Ogoni Environment: Memories and Hope; Ogoni Women as Ecological Defenders”, the women demanded the immediate and full implementation of UNEP Report including the scrapping of HYPREP, establishment of an Ogoni Environment Restoration Authority, Ogoni Environment Restoration Fund as well as a Centre of a Excellence for environmental monitoring and remediation.
Besides an immediate provision of safe drinking water in all impacted communities and commencement of clean-up of Ogoni environment as well as other polluted areas of the Niger Delta, the women demanded that oil in Ogoniland should remain under the ground while compensation paid for harm suffered.
While calling for the creation of employment opportunities and establishment of a specialist health institution in Ogoniland to address the health impacts of the pollution in the land, they likewise demanded an end be put to further contamination and seizure of their scare lands.
The women also resolved to form a network of Ogoni Women Ecological Defenders (OWED) to network with other community-based organisations in Nigeria and to monitor, speak up and work for environmental justice in Ogoniland. They will also monitor and regularly review actions taken with regard to the UNEP recommendations for the restoration of the Ogoni environment.
The women also considered methods of environmental monitoring, networking, ecological defence and ensuring re-source democracy.
The event was organised by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Ogoni Solidarity Forum (OSF), Federal Ministry of Environment and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Information says two new cases of the deadly Ebola virus in the country.
Information on the two new cases, confirmed by Federal Government officials at a press briefing today indicates that two new cases have been recorded in Lagos.
The two new cases brings the number of confirmed the ravaging Ebola virus to nine including that of the late nurse. Environews gathered that the nurse died as a result of her refusal to present herself to the authorities on time, meaning she was not among those quarantined after coming in contact with the late Patrick Sawyer.
Minister of health, Professor Onyebuchi Chuwku, who was in Lagos at the press briefing held at Yaba, Lagos to keep the public updated on developments concerning the rampaging Ebola virus, said a total of 139 people are under surveillance at present.
Among the 139 persons are 48 passengers who were on the Asky flight with the late Sawyer and others who came into contact with him from the airport to the hospital in the Obalande area of Lagos where he later died. The minister said all the passengers have been contacted and now under surveillance.
While describing the outbreak of Ebola in the West Africa sub-region as a “global emergency,” Chukwu called for the unity of the world in order to fight Ebola as it now poses a vicious threat to the African continent and the world at large.
Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Friday paid an early morning inspection visit to the Isolation Ward prepared by the State Government for patients with symptoms of the Ebola Virus Disease, saying the facility is now set up and ready to use.
Mr Fashola who spoke in an interview with newsmen after inspecting some of the facilities at the Ward alongside the Commissioners for Health, Dr Jide Idris; Special Duties, Dr Wale Ahmed, and Special Adviser on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina, added that he was also there to see the environment in which the health workers handling the situation were working and the level of preparation that they have and their level of protection.
According to the Governor, part of what informed his visiting the centre was because the State has a health challenge on her hands and the administration was concerned about the people in terms of their wellbeing and for the people who have taken leadership to help in containing it.
The Governor who interacted with some of the health workers met on ground expressed appreciation for the work they are doing.
Fashola who also expressed delight at the report that the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has called off its industrial action expressed the optimism that the members would come and sign up in the battle against the disease.
He emphasised that Ebola as devastating as its consequences can be is not an automatic death sentence, explaining that the consequences of death would depend on what is done and what is not done.
He stressed that there are already reported cases of patients who are recovering in other parts of West Africa and that the issue is about being able to respond to it appropriately and taking precaution.
“We are also taking precaution and that is also why we did not go into where the patients are because there is a very strict protocol for going there, so if you are going there, you must wear a fully protected gown,” the Governor said.
Fashola also said provisions have already been made so that there can be a separation of very critically ill people from people who are just showing symptoms but who need to be in isolation, adding that it is a very methodical process.
He reiterated his appeal to Lagosians and Nigerians that if they suspect anybody showing symptoms they should let the person report in the hospital in Yaba which is the Infectious Diseases Centre.
Fashola also used the opportunity to appeal to private hospitals to develop a first line of defence now such that if patients are turned in sick, the hospitals must assume and begin to take protection right from entry.
“They must isolate because we cannot do this alone. People are going to go to them sometimes before they are referred to us, so they must take the same precaution and defence and create isolation wards in their hospitals now for people they suspect might have the disease. Monitor, if they are all cleared, discharge and if they are not cleared, let us know immediately so that we can either come and pick or you move to us,” the Governor concluded.
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The Liberian ambassador to Nigeria, Professor Al-Hassan Conte’h, has spoken about the harassment and discrimination of Liberians living in Nigeria regarding the Ebola virus.
According to Conte’h, since the first case of Ebola brought into the country by Patrick Sawyer, Liberian not deceased, Liberians in Nigeria have been the subject of intimidation, harassment and stereotyping.
Prof. Al-Hassan Conte’h
“I would like to appeal for the indulgence of Nigerian authorities. The attention of our embassy has been brought to several cases of harassment of Liberians, especially in Lagos and other places. This harassment bothers on stereotyping, and sometimes expressions of collective guilt,” Conte’h said on Thursday, during a media briefing organised by Nigeria’s minister of health, Onyebuchi Chukwu.
“I think as we combat this disease; I think we should put in our campaign against Ebola that association is not causation. It is not because the index case came from Liberia, so all Liberians have Ebola. We join you in this fight; Liberia is playing its part. But I like to appeal to you because there are law-abiding Liberians in Nigeria who have been harassed. The some derogatory remarks against Liberians are being made on radio and they have been brought to our attention,” he added.
The envoy said the Liberian president, Helen Johnson-Sirleaf has expressed sadness over the the introduction of Ebola by a Liberian to Nigeria, disclosing that the deceased and cremated Liberian was under surveillance in his native country over the virus but managed to find his way to Nigeria.
The dreaded and fast killing Ebola virus has led the World Health Organisation into declaring a global health emergency just as it appealed for global aid to help afflicted countries.
The declaration was made after a two-day emergency session in Geneva, Switzerland and it has grave implications as travel restrictions may be put in place to prevent the continuous spread of the ravaging virus that has claimed more than 900 lives in Africa.
Dr. Margaret Chan
The move, coming in the aftermath of US health authorities’ position that the spread of Ebola beyond countries badly hit in West Africa is “inevitable,” saw WHO director, Dr Margaret Chan appealing for greater international aid for the countries worst hit by the outbreak described as the most serious in four decades.
States of emergency have already been declared across overwhelmed West African nations, including Libera, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Soldiers in Liberia’s Grand Cape Mount province have set up road blocks to limit travel to the capital Monrovia while the towns of Kailahun and Kenema in the east of Sierra Leone were quarantined on Thursday as nightclubs and entertainment venues across the country were ordered shut.
Public sector doctors in Nigeria have also suspended a five-week strike with fears rising that the virus is taking hold in sub-Saharan Africa’s most populous country. The deadly tropical disease has already killed two and infected five others in Lagos.
Ebola has claimed at least 932 lives and infected more than 1,700 people since breaking out in Guinea earlier this year, according to the WHO.
Tekmira Pharmaceutical Corp said on Thursday that the US Food and Drug Administration had modified its clinical hold status on Tekmira’s experimental Ebola treatment to enable its potential use in humans infected with the virus.
A victim of Ebola virus
The FDA told Burnaby, British Columbia-based Tekmira that it had modified the full clinical hold on the drug to a partial clinical hold, the company said in a statement.
“We are pleased that the FDA has considered the risk-reward of TKM-Ebola for infected patients,” said Dr. Mark Murray, Tekmira’s chief executive officer. “We have been closely watching the Ebola virus outbreak and its consequences, and we are willing to assist with any responsible use of TKM-Ebola.”
The recent Ebola outbreak has killed nearly 1,000 people in West Africa.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday said it would convene a meeting of medical ethics experts next week to consider the implications of making experimental Ebola drugs more widely available.
Tekmira’s Ebola treatment is one of three worldwide that have shown especially promising results in monkeys, but it is unproven in humans.
Tiny California biotech Mapp Biopharmaceutical gained international prominence this week when its drug was given to two US aid workers who contracted Ebola in West Africa and have since shown signs of improvement.
Shares of Burnaby, British Columbia-based Tekmira surged 40 percent last week as the worst-ever outbreak of the Ebola virus intensified. The buying spree came even as human tests of Tekmira’s treatment, TKM-Ebola, were put on hold last month.
Tekmira’s drug has only been tested in a few dozen healthy people.
The FDA stopped its study in July because of safety concerns among people taking the highest doses of the drug who experienced problematic immune responses.
The hold meant that that particular study cannot proceed, but it does not prevent the company from submitting a new study proposal, say in people already infected with Ebola, for whom any safety risks from the treatment would be mitigated by the risk of dying.
In that case, “the benefit-risk ratio changes completely,” a source within the FDA told Reuters last week. “Anything that would shift the risk-benefit to a more favorable outcome could potentially allow the authorization of that study.”
In that case, the source said, a company would have a partial clinical hold in which the original study in healthy patients remained on hold and the new study in sick patients could proceed.
Tekmira stock finished trading on Thursday in Toronto up 6.6 percent at C$15.61, after a late rally prior to a trading halt pending the news.
African countries have been advised to develop and implement prudent macro-economic management policies, deepen structural reforms and build economic buffers in order to sustain their current economic growth rates.
The advice was given on Thursday in Abuja by Dr. Ousmane Dore, Nigeria’s Country Director of the African Development Bank.
Dore stated this at the launch of the bank’s “African Economic Outlook 2014″, tagged: “Global Value Chain and Africa’s Industrialisation.”
He noted that Nigeria was the major force behind the robust economic performance in the African continent.
According to him, Nigeria’s recent rebased Gross Domestic Product revealed that the country was the largest economy in the continent with evidence of a more diversified economy.
Dore said new sectors were emerging with stronger capacity to spur inclusive growth through increased job creation and poverty reduction.
He said: “The entertainment and creative industry is now a major income and job creation sources along its diverse activities’ value chain.
“These positive developments have been made possible through deeper structural reforms and focused infrastructure development strategy.
“The Staple Crop Processing Zones, Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan, power sector reform and job creation initiatives are government-driven changes we witness today.”
Dore said that the continent’s growth was gradually returning to the pre-crisis level, driven largely by increased domestic demand, infrastructure development and intra-African trade in more sophisticated and semi-processed goods.
He said that more effective participation in regional and global value chains could serve as springboard for Africa in economic diversification, domestic resource mobilisation and investment in critical infrastructure.
Dore said that Africa and Nigeria in particular should view participation in global value chain as a viable opportunity and strategy to achieve strong, sustained inclusive growth and structural transformation.
This, he said, provides the needed avenue to acquire needed new technologies, international expertise and skills with a view to moving into the global value chain system.
The ECOWAS Commission has suspended all meetings involving member states of the commission due to the outbreak of the Ebola virus in some West African countries.
The Vice President of ECOWAS Commission, Toga McIntosh, announced this at a briefing organised by the Nigerian Government for the diplomatic corps on Ebola outbreak in Abuja on Thursday.
McIntosh said the management of the commission took the decision as a precautionary measure to check the spread of the virus.
He said only meetings that were “very essential” would be convened by the commission but he did not provide any specifics.
He said: “We know that all of our meetings bring together stakeholders from the member states.“So, on August 4, when we had our management meeting, we took a decision to suspend all meetings that will bring us together from our various countries.
“Let’s watch this spread and let’s see how this will go down and then thereafter we can see how we can proceed.
“Except if the meeting is so essential and we are well guided, we will approve.”
Patrick Sawyer, the 40-year-old Liberian and American, who died of the virus in Lagos, flew in from Monrovia, Liberia to attend an ECOWAS meeting in Calabar, Cross River State.
Sawyer was said to be aware of having the disease but still flew to Nigeria. The nurse who treated him in a Lagos hospital has since died. One of the doctors of the hospital is also said to be down with the disease.
McIntosh expressed thanks to the Lagos State Government, the hospital that treated Sawyer in Lagos and the Nigerian media for their support to contain and combat the deadly disease. “ECOWAS is sad that the disease is spreading like wildfire in our community,” he said.
He condoled with families and West African countries that have lost their citizens to the Ebola virus.
The ECOWAS official said all staff of the commission, including the driver and protocol officers who made direct contact with Sawyer before his death, have been placed under surveillance.
He said a request had been made to the Lagos State Government for the fumigation of the ECOWAS office in the state and the vehicle used by Sawyer.
He said this was because the staff that made contact with Sawyer returned to the office and they used the toilets and also interacted with others.
According to him, the Lagos office of ECOWAS has been temporarily closed until after the fumigation exercise.
He added that the commission had also established a task force to monitor all information on Ebola and also establish a hotline for enquiries and emergencies.
McIntosh appealed to member states and the international community to contribute to a special fund established by the regional bloc to fight the disease.
Most of the efforts are geared toward public enlightenment and procurement of safety materials for health workers.
The ECOWAS vice president thanked Nigeria for being one of the first countries to donate to the fund after its launch in Accra during the last ECOWAS Heads of State and government meeting.
President Goodluck Jonathan donated $3 million in support of three Ebola-stricken three West African countries.
A breakdown of Nigeria’s contribution shows that $1 million will go Guinea; $500,000 to Sierra Leone; $500,000 to Liberia; and $1 million to the ECOWAS Pool Fund for Ebola.
McIntosh said: “ECOWAS community has a challenge. “That challenge goes beyond the health sector.
“It requires a collective approach to put our commitment together and deal with this destructive element to development.”
According to the World Health Organisation, the death toll from the outbreak has risen to 932, with more than 1,711 total cases.
On Friday afternoon, a Burkinabe man, who had general symptoms of Ebola, including fever, nose and ear bleeding, was reported to have been taken to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital dead on arrival.
