Strongly recommend that the report is read in full.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/1...ola-relief-efforts-dangerously-uncoordinated/
As United Nations coordinators are claiming success in getting a handle on the Ebola crisis in West Africa, the medical organization that first sounded an alarm about the epidemic warns that the response is ragged, many areas are not getting help, and U.N. coordinating efforts are not having much impact.
?We have little concrete evidence of UNMEER?s work making a tangible difference,? an official of Doctors Without Borders, the front-line medical emergency organization, told Fox News.
snip
But according to Doctors Without Borders, neither the coordination nor the success -- at least, at the level required -- is yet happening.
In a ?briefing paper? published the day after top U.N. officials made their optimistic claims, the volunteer organization declared that while there have been ?positive steps forward,? the response to the ?rapidly-changing epidemic has so far been inadequate.?
Rather than the ?well-coordinated, comprehensive and expertly-staffed intervention? Doctors Without Borders (DWB) had called for months earlier, ?actual efforts have been sluggish and patchy, falling dangerously short of expectations.?
Among the problems:
- continuing shortages of personnel to train local health care staff in handling Ebola cases safely, a problem that will take ?some weeks? to address;
- a ponderous misallocation of facilities to diagnose, isolate and care for infected patients;
- lengthy construction delays for new facilities;
- lack of segregation of Ebola victims from other sick people, leading to closures of many health care facilities; and
- continuing ignorance about the disease, especially in rural areas.
The situation in Guinea, the report said, was ?alarming,? while in Sierra Leone the fight against the virus ?is being outpaced by the increasing number of infections.?
In Liberia, the worst-hit country, Ebola cases in the capital of Monrovia have been dropping, but others are sprouting in the countryside, and ?many international actors seem unable to adapt to the rapidly-changing situation.? The result: ?resources are being allocated to activities that are no longer appropriate to the situation.?
snip
Much more at link http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/1...ola-relief-efforts-dangerously-uncoordinated/
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/1...ola-relief-efforts-dangerously-uncoordinated/
As United Nations coordinators are claiming success in getting a handle on the Ebola crisis in West Africa, the medical organization that first sounded an alarm about the epidemic warns that the response is ragged, many areas are not getting help, and U.N. coordinating efforts are not having much impact.
?We have little concrete evidence of UNMEER?s work making a tangible difference,? an official of Doctors Without Borders, the front-line medical emergency organization, told Fox News.
snip
But according to Doctors Without Borders, neither the coordination nor the success -- at least, at the level required -- is yet happening.
In a ?briefing paper? published the day after top U.N. officials made their optimistic claims, the volunteer organization declared that while there have been ?positive steps forward,? the response to the ?rapidly-changing epidemic has so far been inadequate.?
Rather than the ?well-coordinated, comprehensive and expertly-staffed intervention? Doctors Without Borders (DWB) had called for months earlier, ?actual efforts have been sluggish and patchy, falling dangerously short of expectations.?
Among the problems:
- continuing shortages of personnel to train local health care staff in handling Ebola cases safely, a problem that will take ?some weeks? to address;
- a ponderous misallocation of facilities to diagnose, isolate and care for infected patients;
- lengthy construction delays for new facilities;
- lack of segregation of Ebola victims from other sick people, leading to closures of many health care facilities; and
- continuing ignorance about the disease, especially in rural areas.
The situation in Guinea, the report said, was ?alarming,? while in Sierra Leone the fight against the virus ?is being outpaced by the increasing number of infections.?
In Liberia, the worst-hit country, Ebola cases in the capital of Monrovia have been dropping, but others are sprouting in the countryside, and ?many international actors seem unable to adapt to the rapidly-changing situation.? The result: ?resources are being allocated to activities that are no longer appropriate to the situation.?
snip
Much more at link http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/1...ola-relief-efforts-dangerously-uncoordinated/