Blog #10: As Ebola Cases Dwindle, West Africa Turns To Economic Recovery

   Here in this article we see that the Ebola epidemic is finally dwindling away!Yay! This has been a long awaited moment in the past year and a half. Weekly tallies are now down to fewer than 40 cases -- their lowest level since last May, when the outbreak was just beginning to gather steam. For me every time I read about or heard about the Ebola epidemic on the news it hurt my heart hearing about all the humans suffering just across the Atlantic. Although this is great news, the three West African countries at the center of this past year's epidemic are faced with the harsh reality of a depleted economy. As if their economies weren't already struggling enough previous to the devastating epidemic. All three countries are plagued with poor infrastructure and fragile health systems. The economy in Sierra Leone could end up contracting by more than 20 percent in 2015, the World Bank estimates. While Guinea's economy is stagnating. Liberia is projected to see growth rates of about 3 percent, but that is still well below the pre-Ebola estimates of 6.8 percent. We see in the article that this Friday the World Bank unveiled a major aid package for the three West African countries. Over the next 18 months, the bank plans to provide Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea $650 million in recovery assistance, mostly in the form of grants. The African Development Bank followed suit Friday with a pledge of $300 million in similar funding. Combined with additional new promises by other international organizations and governments, the three affected countries will be getting more than $1 billion.
 
   This article also includes the deployment of 3,000 U.S. military troops at a cost of hundreds of millions to erect 11 treatment facilities. But by the time they were ready, the caseload in Liberia had already fallen precipitously. Only 28 Ebola patients were treated at a unit built by the U.S. Although it seems like an effort that is too late to help we must remember that the key to a large scale crisis is no regrets. Although some might see it as poor timing on our part, we must also remember that there is still no cure to the Ebola virus and another epidemic could spike up at any point in time. Nobody saw this outbreak coming but it happened, and West Africa was all but prepared to treat the thousands that died from it. The efforts that were taken and are still continuing to be taken in the long run will be very effective, even just being as little as prepared will make all the difference.

Anna Hunsucker
4/21/2015
8:41

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/04/17/400387093/as-ebola-cases-dwindle-west-africa-turns-to-economic-recovery

Blog #9: Disease Detection Gets A Boost With Plans For A CDC In Africa

     In 1946, a malaria outbreak across the Southern U.S. catalyzed the formation of what would eventually become the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Then in 2002, China's CDC began its operations just as an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, took hold. Now, as the work Ebola outbreak winds down, Africa health officials announce Monday they will partner with the U.S. to establish a continent-wide Africa CDC. The idea for an Africa CDC first came to light at the 2013 African Union Special Summit on HIV and AIDS, Tuberculous and Malaria in Abuja, Nigeria. Ebola has ramped up the pace and are speeding up the timeline, U.S. health officials said Monday. The African CDC will initially set up shop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which is home to the African Union later this year. Soon after, five regional centers will open at undetermined locations across the continent. Field epidemiologist will staff each location and "will be responsible for disease surveillance, investigations, analysis and reporting trends and anomalies, " said the CDC Monday. In the event of an emergency--such as Ebola-- the office in Addis Ababa will act as a central command post, organizing and deploying teams of medical workers. Dr. Thomas Kenyon, director of the U.S. CDC's center for Global Heath tells us that Africa is already beginning to work on emergency dispatching. He also says the African CDC will "take advantage of existing structures to make it additive to what's already there," he tells NPR. They will link together agencies and laboratories from various countries to use each others strengths and weaknesses for a great outcome. Also to make this happen, the U.S. CDC is donating both brainpower and troops on the ground, as well as technical expertise, and help the African CDC's long-term, strategic planning. Africa also needs funding from within their Countries in order to allow it to work, so 54 member states of the African Union will ultimately be responsible for funding the organization.

     Wow, this is so exciting to hear about! It is funny how much I really do not know, because previously to reading this article I thought the CDC was a global organization being used to help every country in the world. Honestly, I am not sure how I thought that was possible, but reading this article was shocking to think that a whole entire country has no means of relief, strategy, or really anything to contribute to help their own people. Reading this is exciting news for them, because this will begin to relieve African countries state of dependency on other developed countries around the world. Although it will be a long road to develop this in its entirety it's great they have sped up the process due to a great need of health relief from Ebola, and by linking other agencies so they won't have to start from scratch. African CDC is looking up to become a great organization that could potential change the state of diseases over taking their continent.

Anna Hunsucker
16 April 2015
2:53

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/04/14/399427210/disease-detection-gets-a-boost-with-plans-for-a-cdc-in-africa

Blog #8: How Advances in Battlefield Medicine Can Save Civilians' Lives

This article is introducing to underdeveloped countries a strategically and efficiently way to help there near death injured civilians. Dr. Swaninatha Mahadevan who was conducting research at a Nepalese hospital. He gave an example of an older man that had been in a road accident and was thrown from a car. He was lying on a hospital gurney, and was bleeding to death. "But no one was doing anything about it", says Mahadevan, an emergency medicine professor at Stanford University. "In the States, this man would have had a whole team of doctors leaning over him." But in Nepal, there was no one because the hospital didn't have the staff or resources to save the man's life. Researchers in London believe they have the best solution for all of these underdeveloped countries suffering. They think tools developed for battlefield hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan can help fill in this gap. They want to adapt to wartime medical techniques to help civilians in poor countries, which often have high rates of traffic accidents, building collapses, fires and gun violence. With new technologies and some innovative tricks, Army medics have gotten really good at treating injured troops. Battlefield casualties have fall sharply, says Richard Sullivan, and epidemiologist at King's College London.

I think this really is a brilliant idea, and it makes me wonder why it hasn't been thought of before. Honestly it seems to perfect, within the article they bring up the major issues that cause the high mortality rates from injured civilians. One is that hospitals that have the ability to treat the injured civilians are so far away, by the time they get to the hospital the injured patient has bleed to death. Which brings up one of the tools they mentioned that is used on the battlefields, which face a similar issue of treatment being so far away. Many of the injuries cause major bleeding, military medics often rely on hemostatic powders. These powders can be directly poured over the wounds to stop the bleeding and you can have no experience to do this. It is also very low cost item to have, which is nice for these poor countries. Also another treatment that is used on patients who have lost limbs is tourniquets and they stop the bleeding where the limb was lost. The main reason for deaths is due to the distance to treatment centers, but if they keep these small items on hand in emergency vehicles until they make it too a hospital it makes a huge difference and saves lives.

Anna Hunsucker
8 April 2015
6:37

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/04/03/397106186/how-lessons-from-warzones-could-save-lives-in-poor-countries

Blog #7: What's Up With Parents Who Don't Vaccinate Their Children?

    This article opens with a recap of about a decade ago in Nigeria, rumors were spreading that polio vaccines were surreptitious sterilization efforts. The point of this story about vaccines is that confidence is critical when talking about it or giving it as a health care provider anywhere you go. A new study of more than 20,000 people in five countries looks at why people aren't confident about vaccines. The five countries are Georgia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and the U.K. All those countries have historically had an issue with a confidence breakdown regarding vaccines, for different reasons: discredited science, rumors or false reports of bad outcomes. In the case of Pakistan, it's a political football. There's [effectively] been a ban by the Taliban on the polio vaccine until the drone strikes stop which is an issue in itself. They found that the people receiving the vaccines have to trust not only the vaccine, but the person giving the injection and the system requiring immunization. Confidence in their health systems, health programs, and in family planning programs is a key factor. The study also surprisingly found that the U.K. had the highest rate of hesitancy [of the five countries surveyed]. This was sparked from the research Andrew Wakefield in 1998 suggesting links between MMR [measles,mumps, and rubella] vaccine and autism.

      I really enjoyed reading this article about vaccines, for my Senior Thesis in high school I wrote a 15 page paper on the importance of vaccines, refuting the common concerns, and giving a possible solution of how to stop the increasing rates of non-vaccination. The study caught my attention because they included countries with very different cultural, economical, and modernization views. I found the main point covered in the study explaining the importance of confidence and trust in their health care providers to be a legitimate stance. The people that are suppose to save lives are people that you want to trust when it comes to any kind of medical procedures. On the other hand, if something is created to save lives and has proven to do so in research and over decades; why would you not do it?

Anna Hunsucker
2 April 2015
5:20

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/03/26/395345147/whats-up-with-parents-who-dont-vaccinate-their-children

Blog #6: You're Just A Blob In Layers Of Plastic

This article was written as a summary of Bill Gates TED talk in Vancouver last week. The TED talk was about the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and boldly revealed serious problems in our global health care system. It's not that the systems didn't work well enough, he said. "We didn't have a system at all." He called the response "a global failure.". Gates also posed the idea that, "If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it's most likely to be a highly infectious virus, rather than a war. Not missiles, but microbes.". Bill Gates simply states what the solution should be for the next epidemic: Get prepared. He emphasized how governments prepare for war -- developing high tech training, drills and exercises. Why not do the same for an epidemic, which he sees as inevitable? Gates implemented to begin with the moon suits doctors and nurses had to wear in order to treat patients. At the TED talk the audience was filled with engineers, designers and tech experts that have the potential to solve and or improve the suits.

Bill Gates is such a great advocate not only for the Ebola crisis in West Africa,but in many others organizations. He promotes and contributes not only with his money but also his time, efforts, and overall heart for others in need. We need more people to do what he does, especially with the Ebola crisis. Many people do not see the need to create a global health care system; because in the United States we do not face fatality like an undeveloped country would. If Ebola struck the U.S. as hard as it did in West Africa we would be frantic to prepare and better the practices to cure and treat patients. I found this article very encouraging to see someone as motivated to put other lives before themselves.

Anna Hunsucker
27 March 2015
12:57

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/03/23/394820570/youre-just-a-blob-in-layers-of-plastic

Blog #5: Breast-Feeding Boosts Chances of Success, Study In Brazil Finds

In this article they cover a study that has discovered breast-fed babies may be more likely to be successful in life, whether it's health wise or economically. The study followed more than 3,000 babies into adulthood in Brazil and the researchers found that those who were breast-fed scored slightly higher in intelligence tests in their 30s. It also concluded the participants stayed in school longer and earned more money than those who were given formula. This is an interesting study because most of the time we see breast-feading as linked to short-term benefits for a babies health rather than long-tern benefits. Breast-feeding around the world is very important because a baby given formula in developing countries is 14 times more likely to die in the first six months than one who's breast-fed (UNICEF). Also, not to mention the money that is saved when breast-feeding a baby, because baby formula is costly.  Now that we see a study that shows long-term benefits it can be a motivator for moms in developed countries to see the importance of breastfeeding.

Also in the article a study that was given in the U.S. is included, but it is more so debatable because the children used in a previous study comparing siblings was not followed into adulthood. Instead it was volunteers who were followed into adulthood who are now in their 30s just as the study in Brazil.  The information derived from the study in the U.S. showed that those breast-fed for 12 months had IQ test scores that were 3.76 points higher than those who were breast-fed for less than one month. Then they took into consideration how much education the subjects obtained and how much money they were making, they also found a clear difference just like in Brazils study. Although the study from the U.S. is not as credible as he study performed in Brazil it is the beginning to a break though about another benefit from breastfeeding that is long-term.

Anna Hunsucker

March 19, 2015

7:06

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/03/17/393366708/breast-feeding-boosts-chances-of-success-study-in-brazil-finds

Blog #4 It Kills Germs For Up To 6 Hours. Can It Wipe Out Ebola?

This current event is revealing a new possible sanitizer that has the possibility to kill noroviruses in a more effective manner than ever before. Ebola is considered to be a norovirus; which is a virus that is more difficult to control and attacks the stomach and intestines. Alcohol based sanitizers and cleansers on the market right now are mostly ineffective against this specific type of virus. But, Paul Roepe, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University has found that chlorine is the most effective disinfectants against all microbes, including ebola. The problem with just chlorine and even diluted chlorine to 0.05 percent is that it can severely irritate the skin especially if used routinely.

Now there is a newer product floating around the market that is thought to fight off the ebola virus in a very effective way. The product is called Zylast, and it is said to begin killing bacteria within the first 15 seconds of applying it and lasting up to six hours. The idea is that people coming into contact with the ebola virus would apply this all over their skin and on the protective gear. Because the product has the ability to last up to six hours they could do what they need and then when removing their gear (which is the time where highest contamination may occur) without having to fear a speck being left on their sanitized skin. The product also contains proprietary moisturizers to make a nonirritating lotion, making it more skin friendly than hand sanitizers on the market today. This product is only sold to hospitals and schools, but the USAID is giving tens of thousands of dollars to the company, in partnership with the CDC, to explore its usefulness in slowing the spread of Ebola in Africa. This is a break through in itself because right now their is nothing on the market that can fully protect people against the deadly virus, especially in places where the conditions are very poor.

Anna Hunsucker
March 5, 2015
10:11pm

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/02/27/389251809/it-kills-germs-for-up-to-six-hours-can-it-wipe-out-ebola

Blog #3: The Ebola Diaries: Trying To Heal Patients You Can't Touch

This article that I choose is about an American doctor Kwan Kew Lai who was in West Africa volunteering at an Ebola treatment center in Liberia and kept a blog for 6 weeks. Because the risk of infection is so high the access to these centers is severely limited leaving most people questioning the severeness, and this blog gives a true inside visual of what the centers are truly like on a day to day basis. This article pulled just a few of her excerpts from the many entries, and I was shocked at how vivid and heart wrenching they were. Just reading the sentences my heart was breaking for the helpless dying patients. Lai explained how painful and humiliating her patients found the symptoms of Ebola the constant diarrhea and vomiting. And she described how several patients who were determined to keep themselves presentable, for example their was a lady named Nancy who was tall and elegant who always kept her hair neat in corn rows. Lai told how the patients soiled their pants on a daily basis, leaving them to wear a hodgepodge of donated items, but Nancy still managed to put together outfits that looked good on her. One morning Lai went in to check on Nancy and the scene of the room that greeted her was this: "We found found Nancy hunched over her bed, face lowered in her arms, sitting on the bucket commode naked, except for her underwear. She had been weak but managed to haul herself to the commode during the night. But when we touched her, she was already in rigor mortis, she expired while sitting on the bucket."

Another story she shared in her blog was about a mother and a daughter who were both battling the destructive disease together in the same room. She included that she had too keep her emotions in check as much as possible but on this day she couldn't keep it together. She had to find a way too explain to the mother that her three year old daughter laying in the bed beside her had passed away in the night. The mother was struggling with terrible bloody diarrhea and great weakness, in all the while trying stay alive herself she didn't even know her daughter had died. The indescribable sadness and helplessness that she faced is terribly, but it wasn't all bad. She was able too see a six year old girl Christine recover after multiple moments of near death, she said it was a miracle she pulled through. And the day she was leaving the treatment center she was able to see the first smile on Christine's face when she asked her "Do you want to go home?". This article makes you so thankful too live where we live, and not too have to face such detriment.

Anna Hunsucker
11:56
18 February 2015

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/02/12/385528882/the-ebola-diaries-trying-to-heal-patients-you-cant-touch

Blog #2: Better Bath Rituals Is One Way Bangladesh Is Saving Its Newborns

  This article is about saving newborns lives in other cultures and countries that are ill-informed about proper care for the delivery process and a brand new baby. The article zeros in on how across the world a child's survival is a lot like a lottery, the factors are based purely on chance. The chance of where the child is born, if the family has money, and the ethnic background of that child. A report by Save the Children looked at survival rates in 87 low-middle-income counties, and found that 78 percent of countries, efforts to reduce mortality have left out at least one ethnic group or economic class. They are pointing out that there are many efforts made, but groups of people are stilled unreached about this problem. Dr. Ishtiaq Mannon works with the government to train health care workers to help mothers in undeserved districts safely deliver their babies, to educate about how to care for a new born. The funding comes from the U.S Agency for International Development.
  This article focuses on Bangladesh, and how they have made efforts to educate and teach the people in this community how too better the health of their babies. Bangladesh still sees 129,000 deaths of children under 5 each year, over the last two decades, mortality rates have fallen from 144 deaths to 41 deaths per 1000 births. In Bangladesh they have had too overcome so many obstacles in order too complete the mission they are striving for. Some of the obstacles are breaking traditions, finding a way to get better access to health care officials, introducing technology. One tradition that was a harm too the newborns was that they bath the baby first thing and then leave it on the floor while they cater to the mother. They had to teach the people that it was causing sickness and death to the babies, and that the babies needed to be dried and wrapped up immediately. They have faced so many challenges, but have introduced great things like technology, too further communicate with people who would otherwise not know at all. Although they have not accomplished their total mission they have come a long way, and are continuing to close the gap of deaths in children under the age of 5.

Anna Hunsucker
12:45
12 February 2015

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/02/09/384986440/better-bath-rituals-is-one-way-bangladesh-is-saving-its-newborns

Blog #1: Flu vaccine given to millions in the UK barely works

   The main gif of this article is how the main strain of influenza has mutated since the jab was prepared. Within this article they refer to the vaccine as a jab. The specific subtype they are focusing on is A(H3N2) and is the dominant strain circulating around the globe especially in the UK. This strain is particularly lethal among the elderly in general but more so those hospitalized or in home care facilities. Studies proved that the jab is only working in 3% of the people given it, where usually it would normally be effective in around one half of the cases. It has been thought that those who were vaccinated may have a higher chance of getting the dominant strain, but they have concluded it just does not protect against this particular strain. The reason why this happened is because the decisions about which strains of flu would most likely to be circulating this winter was taken 12 months ago by the World Health Organization, with different vaccines recommended for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Dr. Richard Pebody, PHE's (Public Health England) head of flu surveillance said: "the World Health Organization monitors influenza globally and each year recommends the strains of flu virus that should be included in the flu vaccine for the coming flu season. The problem with this is that the process begins in February and is completed around August/September to produce sufficient quantities of the flu vaccine. It is all a prediction of what will circulate the following year, leaving room for slip ups just like this year. The research completed warns that the mismatch between the vaccine and the virus is the lowest recorded in a decade. The only bright side is that the current vaccine continues to protect against flu A(H1N1) and the flu B.


Anna Hunsucker
6 February 2015
12:55

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11393560/Flu-vaccine-given-to-millions-in-the-UK-barely-works.html