ML Strategies Update David Leiter,
[email protected] Georgette Spanjich,
[email protected] Katherine Fox,
[email protected] ML Strategies, LLC Sarah Mamula,
[email protected] 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20004 USA 202 296 3622 202 434 7400 fax FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @MLStrategies www.mlstrategies.com JANUARY 23, 2015 Africa Update Leading the News West Africa Ebola Outbreak On January 14th, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) issued its 16th fact sheet on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The most recent fact sheet highlights that new Ebola cases continue to decrease in Liberia, and the number of confirmed cases has declined by 43 percent between December 22nd and January 5th in Sierra Leone, according to the United Nations (U.N.) World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, the fact sheet highlights how USAID partners have worked to open one Ebola treatment unit (ETU) and four community care centers (CCCs) in Sierra Leone. The latest fact sheet can be downloaded here. On January 15th, U.N. Special Envoy on Ebola Dr. David Nabarro said while the number of new Ebola cases in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea is declining, there are at least 50 micro-outbreaks in the three hardest hit countries. While Dr. Nabarro said it is good news that Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea are now reporting the lowest weekly totals of new Ebola cases since this summer, he cautioned that the emergence of micro-outbreaks evidences there are still chains of transmission that need to be understood. He argued the key will be to continue efforts to get local communities to change their traditional healing rituals and funeral and burial practices.