THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia

NEWS SUMMARY FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2014

UK-Based Ahmadiyya Muslims’ donation to Liberia as additional funding towards the fight against Ebola, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ donation to urban refugees as well as the administration of the Zmapp drugs to medical practitioners are among stories from our selected dailies for today’s summary.

Dominant stories

Ahmadiyya Muslims Present Checks To Fight Ebola

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association in the United Kingdom has donated two checks, totaling ten thousand British Pounds (£10,000.00) to the government of Liberia to assist in the fight against the spread of the deadly EBOLA virus across the country.  According to a press release, the money is intended to purchase essential medical supplies and protective gears for medical practitioners, who have dedicated their time and efforts in the fight against the virus.
At a special ceremony in London over the weekend, the National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association in the United Kingdom, Rafiq Hayat, noted that the health situation in Liberia is of grave concern to his association, especially at a time when the country is undertaking a massive rebuilding process. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community currently operates an eleven bedroom health center in Tubmanburg, Bomi County, which was constructed in 2007 at the cost of $70,000.00 to buttress government's health care delivery system. The clinic was dedicated by Vice President Joseph N. Boakai, New Dawn reports.

Related Caption:UK – Based Ahmadiyya Gives £10,000 For Liberia’s Ebola fight (New Republic Newspaper) UK Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Donates To Ebola Fight (In Profile Daily), UK-Based Ahmadiyya Gives £10,000 for Liberia’s Ebola Fight (Insight Newspaper),Ahmadiyya Muslim Assoc. Donates £10,000 To GoL (The Informer Newspaper), Ahmadiyya Gives Financial Support To Fight Ebola (The News Newspaper),and UK Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Donates 10,000 British Pounds fight Ebola In Liberia (Daily Observer Newspaper)

UNHCR Gives Hygienic Items To Urban Refugee Community

On 13 August 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Liberia handed over hygienic items to 500 urban refugees residing in Montserrado County. The hygienic items included 26 cartons of soap, 400 Ebola buckets and 135kg of chlorine in addition, information leaflets on Ebola prevention were also distributed to refugee leaders for them to go back to their communities and sensitize their friends and families, The Informer reports.

Related Caption: UNHCR Hands Over Hygienic Items To The Urban Refugee Community in Monrovia(IN PROFILE DAILY), UNHCR Hands Over Hygienic Items…To to Urban Refugee Community (The News), UNHCR Hands Over Hygienic Items To Urban Refugee Community In Monrovia(Heritage)

ZMapp Drug Users To Sign Waiver

The Center for Disease Control or CDC in the United States has cautioned here that the ZMmapdrug requested by the Government of Liberia to be administered onEbola patients has not been tested on human beings or confirmed by the CDC and the US Government.Speaking Thursday in a weekly press briefing held by the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism on Capitol Hill, the country director of the Center for Disease Control, Kelvin De Cock, said the CDC and the US Government has no position on the usage of the experimental drug, as one of their colleagues just died without using ZMapp.“Our job is not to administer drugs, but to help in buttressing the government’s effort with the necessary support that they require.”Liberia’s Assistant Health Minister for preventive services, Tolbert Nyenswah, said the ZMapp drug has not reached Level Three for human consumption, but the Government of Liberia requested that it should be used compassionately, and that patients who may want to take it will have to give consent or sign a waiver, New DawnNewspaperreports.In a related story CaptionExperimental Ebola Drug Administered To Liberian Health Workers,according to the Insight Newspaper, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has received the much talked about experimental Ebola drugs (Zmapp) from the U.S. Company that is manufacturing the drug. Speaking at the Ministry of Information’s regular press briefing Thursday, Assistant Minister for Preventive Service at the Ministry of health and Social Welfare Tolbert Nyenswah said the drugs were given on what he calls “compassionate ground”. Minister Nyensuah said the experimental Ebola drugs were requested by few medical practitioners who are infected with Ebola virus in Liberia and are now taking the drugs in isolation.

Other Stories

US$20M for Ebola Approved

According to the New Dawn Newspaper, the Legislature approved a US$20m operational budget recently submitted by the President targeted in the fight against the Ebola virus. The budget was submitted for approval so that the government can generate the revenues for the fight against the disease.  The document was earlier approved by the House of Representatives and later forwarded to the Liberian Senate for possible concurrence. Prior to making the motion for the concurrence, Bomi  County Senator Lahai Lassana opposed the decision in demand of a written report to Plenary by the Chairman of Ways, Means and Finance and Budget, Sen. Sumo Kupee,  instead of verbal report  for the key issues in the document to be remembered. But his recommendation was overruled by the Presiding Officer, Pro-Tempt Milton Findley. Sinoe County Senator Mobutu Vlah Nyenpan demanded a work plan to squarely show how the amount would be expended- an argument supported by Bong County Senator Henry Yallah, owing to the inability of the Executive to account for the US$5m spent discreetly. He told plenary that of the US$5m raised by President Johnson-Sirleaf for the Ebola’s fight, Bong County received only US$2,390.00- something he claimed, was minimum to create awareness and purchase safety gears for the local health workers. The US$5m, earlier announced by the government, is inclusive of the US20m now needed for the continuation of the Ebola fight. Lofa County Senator George Tingbeh emphasized the need for an audit following the entire process so as to ensure accountability and transparency.

Related Caption: Senate endorses US$20m Emergency Spending (Insight Newspaper)

Lawmaker Donates To Ebola Victims

Margibi County Senator Clarice Jah has donated assorted food items to several persons isolated at the ELWA Hospital in Monrovia. The items include cartons of juices, water and other food. Senator Jah said her donation was a way of showing love and concern for the victims who have come down with the deadly virus. She said while it is true that medication is paramount, it was also prudent to have the victims fed, IN PROFILE DAILY reports.

ICT Sectors Donate To Ebola Task Force

The Liberia telecommunication sectors, comprised of the Liberia Telecommunication Authority, Libtelco and the Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications on Thursday, August 14th donated several items to the National Ebola Task Force. The Liberia Telecommunication Authority or LTA donated a 2012 model Nissan Patrol Jeep to the task force to enable it to respond to emergency calls in and around Monrovia. Posts & Telecommunications Minister, Dr. Frederick B. Norkeh, said the ICT sectors listened to the cry of Liberians for assistance and decided to lend a helping hand to the task force in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus. The ICT sector through its Managing Director as well as the Board of Directors of Libtelco, the chairlady along with the commissioners of the LTA and officials of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications donated the Nissan Patrol jeep along with 200 body bags, 200 boots, 600 protective gloves, 500 protective goggles, 530 disposable protective suits and 500 protective face masks, New Dawn reports.

Related Caption:Nat’l Taskforce Gets Boost(Insight Newspaper)

Margibi Health Team Trains 40 CHVs

The New Republic Newspaper reports that as some Liberian continue to cater to family members suspected of carrying Ebola virus as well as grappling with Ebola-related bodies in their various communities and homes, the County Health Team of Margibi County has trained 40 community health volunteers to respond to the needs of victims. Speaking to journalists during an interview, the District Health Officer of Kakata District, Mr. Larry G. Boghndao, said the district health office has received a guest from Uganda through the World Health Organization to break the transmission of the virus by training community health volunteers (CIIV), the New Republic reports.

Monrovia Declare Ebola Epic-Center

The co-chair of the national Ebola task force, Internal Affairs Minister Morris Dukuly, says as a matter of coordinating county and district efforts in the Ebola fight, “Monrovia has been turned into a center all by itself,” due to the incidents of infections in certain areas of the capital. During a consultative meeting held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thursday, August 14, the task force heard that more cases were still emerging in Monrovia as Bomi citizens are trying to by-pass the Clay Checkpoint to enter Monrovia. Though Minister Dukuly reported that Lofa, Bomi and Grand Cape Mount counties have already been quarantined “with some success,” he said he has begun engaging the military and police to extend the checkpoint at St. Paul Bridge because Bomi citizens are trying to by-pass the checkpoint in Clay to enter the capital. For his part, Defense Minister Brownie Samukai, proposed a routine screening of people at community levels because Monrovia is a highly congested area. He fears that if there is an outbreak in very congested areas like Soniwhein, Clara Town and West Point, it poses a very serious problem for Monrovia, New Dawn reports.

Gbarnga Faces Quarantine

According to the Daily Observer Newspaper, cogent information filtering in from central Liberia suggests that the Bong County Health Team is poised to quarantine the provincial capital, Gbarnga, if the trend of suspected Ebola deaths throughout the city continues as it has in recent days. Just this week, a total of ten suspected Ebola deaths occurred from the Civil Compound and the Millionaire communities of Gbarnga, Bong County. In at least one case, it was an entire household. Speaking to the Daily Observer on condition of anonymity, a senior member of the County Health Team said that although there was no Ebola test conducted on the dead, the circumstances under which the persons died, it is almost impossible to rule out hemorrhagic fever.

CDC’S Cock Affirms Us Willingness To Combat Ebola

The Director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Center for Global Health has reassured the U.S. Government commitment in helping Liberia and other partners to combat the deadly disease that is causing deaths in the four West African States-Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. Addressing the Ministry of Information regular press briefing on Thursday, August 14, 2014, Dr. Kevin M. De Cock, noted that the current outbreak of the Ebola disease is one of the most historical outbreaks that ever seen as large as this virus. Meanwhile, the CDC official has clarified that the CDC and the United States Government have no role to play in the negotiation of Ebola experimental drugs for countries wishing to obtain it for their citizens. He said any country that obtains the drugs is fully aware of the risk involved and must do all negotiations with the manufacturers of the drugs, FrontPage Africa reports.