591 Nigerians to fight Ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone
No fewer than 591 Nigerian have registered to join the Ebola volunteers group for deployment in hard-hit Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Minister of Health Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, stated this yesterday while giving updates on global Ebola Virus Disease.
Prof. Chukwu, said there are six countries now having active cases of Ebola - Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, United States and Spain.he also highlighted a number of things. he said there was no single case of Ebola in Nigeria and ban on repatriation of bodies as well as inter-state transportation of bodies are still in force.
“As part of Nigeria’s contributions to the international team that will be set up to tackle Ebola Virus disease in those countries, already Nigeria volunteers from different heath professions have been registering with us, willing to join the international force that will go to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to help out with the containment and as of now 591 Nigerians have already registered with us in three registers we opened in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt.”
“Before we allow them to leave, certain conditions must be met, the President has to approve for them to leave Nigeria for them to leave as volunteers.” “Secondly, they have to be given proper training on how they would avoid the disease and ensure that they don’t get it. They have to be fully and properly trained according to our standards in Nigeria which is fairly high.”
Ebola Containment: Nigeria Receives World Bank Commendation
Nigeria has clearly overcome Ebola virus disease and for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), this is a commendable feat.President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, after a special meeting of the group and the IMF, said Nigeria has demonstrated high competence in the way the Ebola Containment was handled.
He praised the federal, state and local government and all medical workers and the private sector for working together to contain the Ebola virus in the country.
The meeting of the World Bank and IMF, which held in Washington on Thursday morning, noted sadly that the virus continues to surge in the three worst affected countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
British man ‘dies of Ebola in Macedonia’
A BRITISH man suspected of having Ebola has died in the Macedonian capital of Skopje, with fears that more Brits may have contracted the virus.If confirmed, the unidentified man will be the first Briton who has died from the Ebola outbreak that has killed thousands in West Africa and has spread to North America and Europe.
The man’s travelling companion, also British, said they had not visited a country known to have Ebola outbreaks. However authorities said the second man has shown signs of the disease.The Macedonian Health Ministry said the Britons had travelled to the country from the UK, raising fears that they might already have passed it on to friends or family.The UK Foreign Office said it is investigating the incident.
Macedonian TV station Alfa TV reported the man who died couldn’t communicate when he was admitted to the clinic of Infectious Disease in Skopje and passed away shortly after.While the clinic has yet to confirm the diagnosis, doctors agree the deceased man’s symptoms were nearly identical to other Ebola cases in the US and Spain.
FG to commit its AfDB trust fund for war against Ebola – Okonjo-Iweala
The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that Nigeria would commit its Trust Fund with African Development Bank (AfDB) to support efforts to end Ebola in West Africa.
Okonjo-Iweala said this at the on-going Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, U.S.A.She said Nigeria government had donated 3.5 million dollars through the ECOWAS to support Ebola-hit countries in the sub-region.
“We quickly moved to donate money three months ago through ECOWAS and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan donated 3.5 million dollars to the countries.We have been working through Redeemers University and our Centres for Disease Control to train health workers and do laboratory works.“We stand to do more and are ready to do more.“I have talked to Donald Kaberuka about using the Nigerian Trust Fund at the ADB to try and move quickly and my final point is short and medium term,’’ she said.
According to her, winning the war against the disease will require stronger private sector support and strengthening of the health systems on a global scale.Okonjo-Iweala, commended Nigeria’s private sector for its support which enabled the Federal Government to contain the scourge.
Ebola: 1332 Nigerian Soldiers Quarantined In Liberia
The Nigerian Army has revealed that about 1332 of its peace keeping troops in Liberia have been placed under surveillance following their contact with a Sudanese who later died of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
The director of the Nigerian Army Medical Corps, Major-General Obashina Ogunbiyi stated this in Abuja yesterday.
According to the Army medical officer, the incident followed the death of a Sudanese Muslim man who had come to the camp of the soldiers to lead them in prayer during the Eid-el Fitri celebration, but developed Ebola symptoms the following day and later died.
Ogunbuyi noted that the country remained at risk as any of the soldiers could choose to travel home anytime, saying “that is why the military had to be totally involved in the fight against the Ebola virus.”