In the news this week on Ebola

Liberia is forging ahead in the fight against Ebola and did not record any new case of Ebola this past week.

The MSF (Medecins sans Frontieres) have opened a 46 bed Children's hospital in Monrovia Liberia, as part of the effort to help rebuild the nation's health care system. This is the first of its kind in Liberia.

UNICEF in collaboration with the Liberian government are working to organize an immunization campaign that is aimed at reaching about 600,000 under five children. This should help reduce the widened gap in immunization that was made possible by the outbreak.
They plan to focus on measles and polio vaccination.

Guinea had 28 new cases last week while Sierra Leone had 9.
The 3 countries have failed to meet the zero cases of Ebola target by mid April. Liberia was initially close to meeting the target, however a case of Ebola was confirmed in Liberia on the 20th of March, hence the 42 days count began again.



President Obama on Wednesday met at the White House with the three West African Presidents whose countries were majorly impacted by the outbreak; Presidents Sirleaf, Koroma, and Condé. President Obama emphasized the need to be vigilant at this point when it seems the cases are reducing significantly. We can't be complacent he said.

Furthermore, he reinstated the need to rebuild the health systems to levels that are stronger than before the crisis.
He touched on the issue of rebuilding the economy of the 3 worst hit countries and has said that the 3 presidents will be meeting with the International Monetary Fund and the World bank in Washington DC.

Merck and New Link genetics have begun the phase III trial of their Ebola vaccine in Sierra Leone.
This last stage is meant to establish the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.

Ebola survivors are being urged to practice safe sex, as the virus was recently discovered in the semen of a man that was declared Ebola free last September. Prior to that, the virus had been found in the semen of a man 3 months after he was declared Ebola Free.
More tests need to be carried out to ascertain the implications of this finding.