Strategy Change Called for in Liberia's War on Ebola

A change of strategy in the fight against Ebola in Liberia has been called for by Medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders on Monday, to fund rapid response teams rather than huge isolation units.

The charity, known by its French initials MSF, said it is seeing a decline in the number of patients admitted to case management centres in Liberia for the first time since the outbreak started.

Quiz on Ebola
Why is the deadly Ebola virus outbreak making the health experts hit the panic button? Find out from this quiz.

But new hotspots continue to emerge and the global response must adapt to this new phase of the epidemic, added MSF, which has around 3,300 staff across Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone and Guinea.

"Financial support is starting to flow into the country and huge resources are being put into constructing large-scale Ebola isolation centres," said Fasil Tezera, MSF head of operations in Liberia.

"Isolation units in Monrovia and some other parts of the country now have adequate capacity and we must adapt the strategy if we want to stay ahead of the curve and beat the epidemic".

Ebola Virus Disease | Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: Cause Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment
Ebola is caused by a virus via direct contact with body fluids or infected blood. Scientists have identified five types of Ebola or Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus.

"Priority should be given to a more flexible approach that allows a rapid response to new outbreaks and gets the regular healthcare system safely up and running again."

MSF says its 250-bed ELWA3 centre in Monrovia is treating around 50 patients, while in the northern town of Foya, at the epicentre of the outbreak, the number of patients fell to zero on October 30, with no confirmed cases since.

Doctors Without Borders: 1,000 Women Die Per Day in Childbirth
Every day nearly thousand women die in childbirth or from avertable complications concerning pregnancy, humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said on Thursday.

But the charity said case numbers could rise again, as happened in Guinea following two significant dips in admissions to MSF facilities.

Ebola virus disease, a tropical fever which is estimated to have a fatality rate of around 70 percent in the current outbreak, is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids.

Ebola Virus is Losing Grip in Liberia: WHO
The fight against the Ebola outbreak in Africa is finally starting to pay off as the number of cases have reduced in Liberia

MSF said the fight to contain the epidemic should now focus on deploying teams quickly to new hotspots to isolate patients, trace people who have been in contact with the sick, organise safe burials and carry out disinfection.

"In Foya, we believe this comprehensive approach, as well as active engagement by the community, has led to a steady reduction of cases across the county," said Nico Heijenberg, MSF emergency coordinator.

The UN World Health Organization is reporting around 5,000 deaths and 13,000 infections globally, although it has warned that this official toll could be the tip of the iceberg.

The WHO has also confirmed a slowdown in the spread of the virus in hardest-hit Liberia, where 2,697 people have died out of a total of 6,525 cases.

But officials from various UN agencies and the Liberian government have warned against complacency.

Source-AFP