Call for Urgent Action by 275 World Leaders on Global Education Emergency In Face of Covid19
Credit: UNICEF Mali / DickoBy External SourceNEW YORK, Aug 18 2020 (IPS) We write to call for urgent action to address the global education emergency triggered by COVID-19. With over 1 billion children still out of school because of the lockdown, there is now a real and present danger that the public health crisis will create a COVID generation who lose out on schooling and whose opportunities are permanently damaged. While the more fortunate have had access to alternatives, the world’s poorest children have been locked out of learning, denied internet access, and with the loss of free school meals – once a lifelin...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - August 18, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: External Source Tags: Economy & Trade Education Featured Global Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Source Type: news
Leading in Time of COVID: A True Test of Leadership
By Folake OlayinkaAug 15 2020 (IPS) In 1918, the Spanish Flu, a deadly influenza caused by the H1N1 virus, decimated the world. Over the course of four successive waves, it infected 500 million people, about a third of the world’s population at the time, resulting in 50 million deaths.
More recently between 2014 and mid-2016 , the Ebola virus epidemic was the most widespread outbreak of Ebola virus disease in history—causing devastating loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the West Africa region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. These outbreaks, as well as SARS and MERS, each have provided lessons...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - August 15, 2020 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Folake Olayinka Tags: Democracy Headlines Health Source Type: news
Sierra Leone: 'Breastfeeding Could Save 820,000 Children Every Year'
[Concord] The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has stated that breastfeeding could save the lives of 820,000 children every year and possibly generates US $302 billion in additional income. (Source: AllAfrica News: Pregnancy and Childbirth)
Source: AllAfrica News: Pregnancy and Childbirth - August 12, 2020 Category: OBGYN Source Type: news
Africa: We Must Continue to Scale Up Malaria Programmes, Despite Covid-19
[African Arguments] Deaths from malaria could double if the fight against coronavirus comes at the expense of anti-malaria efforts, warns Sierra Leone's Health Minister. (Source: AllAfrica News: Malaria)
Source: AllAfrica News: Malaria - August 9, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Featured Review: Digital contact tracing technologies in epidemics: a rapid review
Are digital contact tracing technologies effective during infectious disease outbreaks?Why is this question important?The global COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of accurate and timely contact tracing. Contact tracing tells people that they may have been near someone with - or showing symptoms of - an infectious disease, allowing them to self-isolate and helping to stop the spread of infection. Traditionally, contact tracing begins with notification that someone has an infectious disease. They are asked to recall their contacts, going back two to three days before symptom onset. This is time-consuming and may no...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - August 5, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: Rachel Klabunde Source Type: news
South Africa: Funeral Practices and Cultural Dignity in the Time of Covid
[African Arguments] 'People were expected to go from one end of the spectrum to the other; from washing the bodies by hand, dressing them, and holding elaborate ceremonies, to having a corpse in a body bag and no goodbye.'- Fiona McLysaght, Sierra Leone country director for the humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide during the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone in 2015. (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - August 2, 2020 Category: African Health Source Type: news
Sierra Leone: UNFPA Helps Bring Quality Maternal and Newborn Services to Communities
[Concord] Kadijatu chose to give birth in a health facility because, "it is dangerous to give birth at home... there are potential serious complications if one chose to give birth at home. In some cases, this may lead to death or death of the newborn baby." (Source: AllAfrica News: Pregnancy and Childbirth)
Source: AllAfrica News: Pregnancy and Childbirth - July 21, 2020 Category: OBGYN Source Type: news
Africa: There Are Signs of Hope for Ending Poverty, Even in a Pandemic - Report
[allAfrica] Cape Town -- The novel coronavirus threatens to reverse the gains made in the global struggle to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030 -- but Sierra Leone offers hope that progress can be made in improving people's lives even in a pandemic. (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - July 20, 2020 Category: African Health Source Type: news
Sierra Leone Doctors Threaten to Expand Strike Amid COVID-19 Crisis Sierra Leone Doctors Threaten to Expand Strike Amid COVID-19 Crisis
Doctors in Sierra Leone, who are refusing to treat COVID-19 patients to press demands for bonus payments and more protective equipment, threatened on Tuesday to suspend care for other patients too if the dispute is not resolved by Sunday.Reuters Health Information (Source: Medscape Critical Care Headlines)
Source: Medscape Critical Care Headlines - July 8, 2020 Category: Intensive Care Tags: Infectious Diseases News Source Type: news
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Tackling Malaria Amidst COVID-19 Outbreak Response
[WHO] Mass distribution of long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets is underway in Sierra Leone's capital city, Freetown and its suburbs to complete a nationwide household distribution of 4.6 million mosquito nets. The campaign started in mid-May with nets distributed in 14 of the country's 16 districts. The remaining two districts (Western Area Urban and Western Area Rural), in the capital and its suburbs account for around a fifth of the 7-million population and has also been accounting for nearly 60% of the (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - July 2, 2020 Category: African Health Source Type: news
Johnson & Johnson Announces European Commission Approval for Janssen ’s Preventive Ebola Vaccine
Discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have taken place to define the required data set for filing US licensure. About Janssen’s Ebola Vaccine Regimen The Janssen preventive Ebola vaccine regimen, Ad26.ZEBOV and MVA-BN-Filo, utilizes a non-replicating viral vector strategy in which viruses – in this case adenovirus serotype 26 (Ad26) and Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara (MVA) – are genetically modified so that they cannot replicate in human cells. In addition, these vectors carry the genetic code of several Ebola virus proteins in order to trigger an immune response.Janssen’s vaccine regimen ori...
Source: Johnson and Johnson - July 1, 2020 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Innovation Source Type: news
Sierra Leone: Contact Tracing - Learning Lessons From Sierra Leone
[African Arguments] Debating Ideas is a new section that aims to reflect the values and editorial ethos of the African Arguments book series, publishing engaged, often radical, scholarship, original and activist writing from within the African continent and beyond. It will offer debates and engagements, contexts and controversies, and reviews and responses flowing from the African Arguments books. (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - June 30, 2020 Category: African Health Source Type: news
Sierra Leone: Mass Distribution of Bed Net in Freetown
[Concord] The mass distribution campaign of treated bed nets and House to House Family Sensitization on Covid-19 prevention are underway in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. (Source: AllAfrica News: Malaria)
Source: AllAfrica News: Malaria - June 25, 2020 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Sierra Leone: Govt Relaxes COVID-19 Restrictions Despite Growing Cases
[East African] Freetown -Sierra Leone residents can now freely move from one district to another without the need for a special pass, as the government gradually relaxes Covid-19 restrictions despite increasing number of infections. (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - June 25, 2020 Category: African Health Source Type: news
Africa: Responding to COVID-19 Must Not Come at the Expense of Malaria Activities, Otherwise Children May Pay The Price
[MSF] MSF paediatrician Carola Buscemi raises concerns about the COVID-19 response interfering with the treatment of measles for children in Sierra Leone. (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - June 24, 2020 Category: African Health Source Type: news
