The October/November issue of the Global Health Impact Newsletter (subscribe) focuses on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and MSH's response, including what is needed to save lives, contain Ebola (or any similar outbreak), and maintain essential health services: stronger health systems.

A Note from Dr. Jonathan Quick

Dr. Jonathan D. QuickThe Ebola outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented. Already, over 13,000 people have been affected and over 5,000 lives lost. What’s more, this outbreak was preventable.

The challenge of Ebola goes to the very essence of MSH’s core mission: ensuring the right of every person to health care, building and sustaining systems for care and prevention, and developing solutions rooted in the community. We are applying our expertise in these areas to help stop the outbreak, restore essential health services, and to strengthen health systems for the future.

A coordinated emergency response is critical to stopping the outbreak at its source and to saving the thousands of lives that are at stake. Already, local and international efforts are producing results in Liberia, as evidenced by a current downturn in the number of new cases. These efforts must be sustained and increased to ensure that this downward trend continues, with the goal of zero new cases.  

In addition, we must remain vigilant in our investments for the future. Strong health systems in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, as well as other at-risk countries, will both improve health and ensure that we are prepared for the next public health challenge. MSH is committed to working in close coordination with our international, national, and local partners to make a real difference in West Africa.  

Emergency response is what happens when preparedness has failed. Developing strong health systems will ensure collective well-being for all, today and tomorrow.

Learn more about MSH's Ebola response

Highlights

MSH Calls for Systems Strengthening in US Ebola Response

Health systems strengthening has been, and will remain, the most important role for the US government and its international partners in responding to the West African Ebola outbreak. MSH recommends that the US and other donors focus on long-term recovery and preparedness, as well as emergency response. Read more

Photo credit: Ian Sliney/MSH 

MSH Framework for Ebola Response and Recovery at the Local Level

MSH’s action to stop Ebola is guided by a framework for response and recovery at the local level. The framework modules and worksheets promote strengthening local multisector response coordination; maintaining essential services (health and non-health) during and after an outbreak; limiting the spread; and supporting care and treatment protocols. Read more

People with suspected Ebola, but no "wet" symptoms stay in the "dry" building.Photo credit: Fred Hartman/MSH

Why I Went to Liberia

"From a distance of 25-30 feet, I accompanied a Liberian physician on his rounds as he spoke with patients suffering from Ebola virus disease. He has been making these visits every day since March and has not contracted Ebola," blogs Dr. Fred Hartman, MSH’s Global Technical Lead on malaria and other infectious diseases. Read post

Photo credit: Fred Hartman/MSH

Accredited Medicine Stores in Liberia: Helping Fight Ebola

With thousands of people dying in West Africa from the Ebola virus and many more at risk, Liberia’s Accredited Medicine Stores (AMS) and other drug shops continue to help ensure access to pharmaceutical products and services at the community level even as other health facilities have closed down. They also offer the potential to contribute to the control of the lethal disease. Read story

LeaderNet West African Ebola Seminar Summaries: Community-Based Preparedness, Surveillance, and Response

More than 260 people from over 60 countries participated in an interactive online LeaderNet seminar on the West African Ebola outbreak, hosted by MSH, October 28-30, 2014. Read more

Photo credit: Ian Sliney/MSH.

Profile

Here & Now: Rebuilding Liberia’s Devastated Health System

Robin Young, co-host of NPR/WBUR Boston's Here & Now radio show, interviews MSH’s Ian Sliney and Arthur Loryoun about stopping the spread of Ebola and restoring community confidence in the health system in Liberia. Listen:

Feature

West Africa: Essential non-Ebola Services

Restoring essential services to non-Ebola patients must be a core component of the emergency response in West Africa.

Fighting Malaria in Liberia in the Face of Ebola

MSH is working with partners to improve coordinated national efforts in the fight against malaria in several countries, including Liberia. In its early stages, malaria symptoms can resemble Ebola infection: fever. Read story

Photo credit: Anthony Yeakpalah/MSH.

Creating an AIDS Free Generation in West Africa

The USAID-funded, MSH-led Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) West Africa Regional Project helps ensure access to life-saving medicines for people living with HIV & AIDS by improving coordination among six countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Niger and Togo). 

Learn more about the SIAPS West Africa Regional Project dashboard

Video

Updates on MSH Ebola Response

In early November, Drs. Jonathan D. Quick and Fred Hartman provided an update on our Ebola response in Liberia at a press briefing in Boston, Massachusetts.

Related

• Read Drs. Quick and Hartman in this article published Nov. 6 in The Boston Globe: Aid groups see long-term planning as key to Ebola fight
• More media coverage here: MSH Ebola response in the news

Resources

• Strengthening Health Systems in Fragile States
• Framework for Ebola Response and Recovery at the Local Level

More MSH News

• Challenge TB: A New Worldwide Tuberculosis Project
• Preventing Stockouts of Essential TB Drugs: QuanTB
• New Mentoring Network Supports Women Leaders in East Africa
• PLAN-Health Program Supports Launch of Community-Based Health Insurance in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
• The Myth Behind The Policy That Never Dies
• Remembering My Aunt, Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh, Who Stopped Ebola in Nigeria

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