UN through the lens: Photographing Ebola – the ‘invisible enemy’
The enemy was invisible – that’s how United Nations photographer Martine Perret described Ebola, the deadly virus which has killed nearly 9,000 people in West Africa. Last December, Ms. Perret – who has worked in a number of…
Top UN development programme official starts West Africa visit focused on Ebola recovery
The top United Nations development official, tasked by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to lead the Organization’ system-wide Ebola-related recovery effort, today began a visit to West Africa, where a new study recommended…
Ebola: World Bank will provide seeds to farmers in West Africa to ward off hunger
The World Bank Group announced today that it has mobilized some $15 million in emergency financing to provide a record 10,500 tons of maize and rice seed to more than 200,000 farmers in the countries most-affected by the…
National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) Situation Room in Sierra Leone Photo: UNMEER/Simon Ruf
Sierra Leone: The Ebola warriors in the situation room
The Ebola war is being fought on many fronts. On the frontlines, social mobilizers strive to educate local communities, contact tracers go door-to-door searching for new cases, and doctors and nurses work to save lives in…
Ebola: UN health agency turns to foreign medical teams in last phase of combat against virus
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that it will huddle with medical teams from outside the Ebola-affected countries next week in Geneva to see how they can help in the last phases of the fight…
UN Economic, Social Council President urges action ‘now’ to bolster health systems in Ebola-hit counties
In addition to lives lost and the socio-economic impact of the Ebola outbreak, the long-term impact on families – with at least 3,700 children in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone losing one or both parents to the virus –…
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone shift to joint tactics in tackling Ebola and recovery
The presidents of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone met yesterday in Conakry, in a move to unify their efforts in tackling the Ebola epidemic, with the virus still to be defeated even as the number of new cases is declining…
Sierra Leonean journalists launch yellow ribbon campaign against Ebola
The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) Saturday, in Freetown, launched a Yellow Ribbon campaign to mobilize the population for the Ebola fight. “The yellow ribbon symbolizes a commitment of individuals, groups and…
Ebola: UN development chief begins last leg of West Africa mission
The top United Nations development official today began the last leg of her Ebola-recovery focused visit to West Africa a day after she witnessed the reopening of schools in Liberia and urged the international community to…
UN envoy on Ebola likens final phase of response to ‘looking for needles in haystacks’
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Ebola, Dr. David Nabarro, told the United Nations General Assembly today that the final phase of “getting to zero” cases may well be the hardest, saying the hunt to track down the…
UN health agency approves rapid test for Ebola as decline in cases appears to level off
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that it has approved for use a rapid diagnostic test kit for Ebola that can provide results in 15 minutes and correctly identify 92 percent of patients…
Sierra Leonean President Ernest Koroma lauds UNMEER, commends outgoing Crisis Manager
On a day when there were just two Ebola cases in Sierra Leone, President Ernest Koroma on Thursday said that the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s initiative to establish the Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) was…