Health

Update of this Morning's story:

Obama tells global health officials: After Ebola, ‘we have to do better.’Obama tells global health officials: After Ebola, ‘we have to do better.’

WASHINGTON POST
By Juliet Eilperin September 26 at 1:30 PM

WASHINGTON --

President Obama addressed health officials from dozens of countries who had gathered Friday at the White House to determine ways the international community can strengthen defenses against future epidemics, such as the Ebola outbreak now raging in West Africa.

Administration officials had launched a global health security initiative in February to help other nations develop basic disease detection and monitoring systems to contain the spread of deadly illnesses.

nytimes.com - by MARK LANDLER and SOMINI SENGUPTA - September 25, 2014

UNITED NATIONS — Seeking to speed the response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, President Obama delivered a blunt warning on Thursday at a high-level United Nations meeting devoted to the health crisis: The world was doing too little and moving too slowly.

Mr. Obama cited his announcements last week that the Pentagon would build a field hospital and treatment units in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone — along with the establishment of a United Nations emergency mission to respond to the Ebola outbreak — as positive steps.

“But I want us to be clear: We are not moving fast enough. We are not doing enough,” the president said. “There is still a significant gap between where we are and where we need to be.”

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

By: PTI - 25, Sep 2014 9:12 AM (IST) - newsnation.in

Washington: US Secretary of State John Kerry has appointed Nancy Powell, the former US Ambassador to India, as Ebola Coordinator at the State Department.

In this new role, announced yesterday, Powell will lead the State Department's outreach to international partners, including foreign governments, to ensure a speedy and truly global response to this crisis.

Obama had last week declared the Ebola outbreak as a "global threat" which demands "a truly global response."

http://m.newsnation.in/article/55710-john-kerry-appoints-nancy-powell-ebola-coordinator.html

FORBES                 September 23, 2014

By David Kroll

The Health Minister of Nigeria says that his country is completely free of active Ebola cases and has released the final victim contacts from surveillance.

In a telephone interview last night where he was preparing for a United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu, MD, said, “Presently, there is no single case of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria – none.”

Dr. Chukwu provided further details, saying, “No cases are under treatment, no suspected cases. There are no contacts in Lagos that are still under surveillance, having completed a minimum of 21 days of observation.

Link to full story follows:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2014/09/23/nigeria-free-of-ebola-as-final-surveillance-contacts-are-released/