AFRICAN LEADERS PLEDGE TO IMPROVE EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE

(Credit: WHO) Participants at the One Health Conference

14 November 2016 – On Friday, at the landmark West African Regional Conference on One Health in Dakar, Senegal, ministers of health, agriculture and wildlife renewed their commitment to working together to prevent and respond early to public health threats across West Africa. The collaboration comes as the region approaches the three year mark since the first Ebola case in the recent outbreak.  

One Health is an approach that calls on policymakers and health practitioners to consider the inextricable link between human, animal and environmental health when designing public health systems, research and programmes. In recent years, 75% of emerging infectious diseases have originated in animals or animal products. It is believed that Ebola spread to a young boy in rural Guinea from an infected animal, sparking an epidemic that infected more than 28,000 people, including in the capital cities of six West African countries. By taking an integrated approach to public health, communities and countries can identify outbreaks in animals before they spread to humans.

Security Message for U.S. Citizens: Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever in Guinea April 2, 2014

 U.S. Embassy Banjul wishes to share the following information regarding the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Guinea. Guinea does not share a border with The Gambia.

As of April 1, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that there were 127 suspected individuals with the Ebola virus and 83 fatalities in Guinea. While the majority of these cases were in the southeast of Guinea, far from the capital, there were twelve confirmed individuals with four fatalities in Conakry.

WHO confirmed seven suspected individuals with Ebola with two fatalities in Liberia. U.S. Embassy Freetown, Sierra Leone reports that there are no confirmed victims of Ebola in Sierra Leone, but there are individuals under investigation. There have been no confirmed individuals in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, or The Gambia to date.

U.S. Embassy Banjul notes that: • The Guinean government has limited the sale of bats and traditional bat dishes to minimize the risk of additional cases.

Gutsura Residents Need Safe, Clean Water

Mamadou Edrisa Njie reporting from Gusau with Earth Hour Nigeria #WalktoMali Champions

Earth Hour Nigeria team at the village well

Residents of Gutsura village located in Zamfara state Northwest, Nigeria has strongly appealed to the Federal, State and Local government[s] to provide them with safe and clean drinking water for their local community.

Speaker after speaker in the village told Earth Hour trekking champions that in their local community, they are lack safe drinking water and only rely on well water for drinking, cooking and other basic needs.

 “For about forty years now, we only drink from well water. We don’t have taps or boreholes in this community,” said Turku Muhammed.