Document Library
This correspondence from the WHO Ebola Response Team focuses on the West African ebola epidemic after one year. It explains how the uneven success of ebola control measures to date, in the face of shifting geographic patterns of transmission, illustrates the continuing threat posed by the Ebola virus 1 year after the start of the epidemic. A total… Read more
Diarrhoea is an important cause of death and illness among chil- dren in developing countries; however, it remains controversial as to whether diarrhoea leads to stunting. We conducted a pooled analysis of nine studies that collected daily diarrhoea morbidity and longitudinal anthropometry to determine the effects of the long- itudinal history of diarrhoea prior to… Read more
This review considered possible scenarios for the health sector over the next three years and a range of associated options for future support from the Department for International Development (DFID). The review concludes the best option to be: provision of non-budget support financial aid for primary care. The report makes the following recommendations: DFID should… Read more
The Health and Education Advice and Resource Team (HEART) was contracted to undertake the first Annual Programme Review (APR) of the DFID-funded Ghana Malaria Prevention, Diagnosis and Data Programme. This review was undertaken between 24 July and 20 August 2014 by a team of two external consultants. The Review Terms of Reference (TOR) posed questions… Read more
This helpdesk focuses on the impact of traditional healers, witch doctors and burial attendants on ebola in West Africa. It seeks to establish if there is a difference between witch doctors, herbalists and traditional healers in terms of when people see them and the kind of treatment they provide. It goes on to explore the… Read more
Maternal Newborn and Child Health Week (MNCHW) was launched in Nigeria in 2009 as a bi-annual campaign-style programme designed to deliver key child and maternal health interventions and to revitalise health care systems. Support to strengthen this programme, in the five northern Nigerian States of Katsina, Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara and Yobe, is being provided by… Read more
Last week, Save the Children launched a report called ‘A wake up call’, drawing lessons from the Ebola Virus Disease epidemic for health systems strengthening on a global scale. One of the key messages of this report is that Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are not unique in their vulnerability to Ebola. Save the Children… Read more
There is general agreement that the Ebola crisis was not quickly contained in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone because their national health systems were dangerously under-resourced, understaffed and poorly equipped. A Wake-up Call argues that we must learn the lessons of this crisis not just for the three countries but for the many other developing countries… Read more
Containment strategies for Ebola rupture fundamental features of social, political and religious life. Control efforts that involve local people and appreciate their perspectives, social structures and institutions are therefore vital. Unfortunately such approaches have not been widespread in West Africa where response strategies have been predominantly top-down. Authoritarian tactics have had questionable effect, potentially worsening… Read more
The international response to Ebola has been decried for being ‘too slow, too little, too late’. As well as racing to respond, we need to consider what has happened over the past decades to leave exposed fault lines that enabled Ebola to move so rapidly across boundaries of people’s bodies, villages, towns and countries. Gender… Read more
Ebola has had significant, negative effects in the rapidly expanding, unregulated areas of peri-urban and urban West Africa. The residents of these areas maintain vital connections with rural populations while intermingling with and living in close proximity to urban and elite populations. These interconnections fuel the spread of Ebola. The degradation of natural resources, temporary… Read more