Dec 20, 2014
The Ebola death toll in the three West African countries most impacted by the virus has climbed to at least 7,373 of 19,031 known infections, the World Health Organization revealed in data released Saturday.
Western Sierra Leone is the "hotspot" of the ongoing outbreak, according to the WHO, which notes that this country has the highest infection rate, followed by Liberia and then Guinea.
However, Liberia accounts for far more Ebola deaths, leading some to question the accuracy of the WHO's statistics on infection rates.
Nonetheless, the data shows an increase in overall cases, which are up by 500 since WHO data was last released on December 17.
The numbers were released following news Friday that Sierra Leone's top-ranking doctor had succumbed to Ebola, making him the 11th of the country's 120 doctors to die from the disease, according to the Guardian.
Meanwhile, humanitarian aid workers have criticized the global community for its failure to respond adequately as West African governments and grassroots initiatives such as the Citizens Alliance to Stop Ebola in Liberia struggle to stem the ongoing emergency.
"The international response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa has been slow and uneven leaving local people, national governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to do most of the practical, hands-on work," the NGO Doctors Without Borders//Medecins Sans Frontieres declared earlier this month.
The lackluster global response comes despite the fact that Western-driven economic policies played a key role in gutting West African public health systems.
"People are still dying horrible deaths in an outbreak that has already killed thousands," said Dr. Joanne Liu, MSF international president. "We can't let our guard down and allow this to become double failure, a response that was slow to begin with and is ill-adapted in the end."
No one is coming to save us. Join with us.
The world is a pretty dark place right now. Economic inequality off the charts. The climate emergency. Supreme Court corruption in the U.S. and corporate capture worldwide. Democracy in many nations coming apart at the seams. Fascism threatens. It’s enough to make you wish for some powerful being to come along and save us. But the truth is this: no heroes are coming to save us. The only path to real and progressive change is when well-informed, well-intentioned people—fed up with being kicked around by the rich, the powerful, and the wicked—get organized and fight for the better world we all deserve. That’s why we created Common Dreams. We cover the issues that corporate media never will and lift up voices others would rather keep silent. But this people-powered media model can only survive with the support of readers like you. Can you join with us and donate right now to Common Dreams’ Mid-Year Campaign? |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare was a staff writer for Common Dreams from 2013-2016. She is currently web editor and reporter for In These Times.
The Ebola death toll in the three West African countries most impacted by the virus has climbed to at least 7,373 of 19,031 known infections, the World Health Organization revealed in data released Saturday.
Western Sierra Leone is the "hotspot" of the ongoing outbreak, according to the WHO, which notes that this country has the highest infection rate, followed by Liberia and then Guinea.
However, Liberia accounts for far more Ebola deaths, leading some to question the accuracy of the WHO's statistics on infection rates.
Nonetheless, the data shows an increase in overall cases, which are up by 500 since WHO data was last released on December 17.
The numbers were released following news Friday that Sierra Leone's top-ranking doctor had succumbed to Ebola, making him the 11th of the country's 120 doctors to die from the disease, according to the Guardian.
Meanwhile, humanitarian aid workers have criticized the global community for its failure to respond adequately as West African governments and grassroots initiatives such as the Citizens Alliance to Stop Ebola in Liberia struggle to stem the ongoing emergency.
"The international response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa has been slow and uneven leaving local people, national governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to do most of the practical, hands-on work," the NGO Doctors Without Borders//Medecins Sans Frontieres declared earlier this month.
The lackluster global response comes despite the fact that Western-driven economic policies played a key role in gutting West African public health systems.
"People are still dying horrible deaths in an outbreak that has already killed thousands," said Dr. Joanne Liu, MSF international president. "We can't let our guard down and allow this to become double failure, a response that was slow to begin with and is ill-adapted in the end."
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare was a staff writer for Common Dreams from 2013-2016. She is currently web editor and reporter for In These Times.
The Ebola death toll in the three West African countries most impacted by the virus has climbed to at least 7,373 of 19,031 known infections, the World Health Organization revealed in data released Saturday.
Western Sierra Leone is the "hotspot" of the ongoing outbreak, according to the WHO, which notes that this country has the highest infection rate, followed by Liberia and then Guinea.
However, Liberia accounts for far more Ebola deaths, leading some to question the accuracy of the WHO's statistics on infection rates.
Nonetheless, the data shows an increase in overall cases, which are up by 500 since WHO data was last released on December 17.
The numbers were released following news Friday that Sierra Leone's top-ranking doctor had succumbed to Ebola, making him the 11th of the country's 120 doctors to die from the disease, according to the Guardian.
Meanwhile, humanitarian aid workers have criticized the global community for its failure to respond adequately as West African governments and grassroots initiatives such as the Citizens Alliance to Stop Ebola in Liberia struggle to stem the ongoing emergency.
"The international response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa has been slow and uneven leaving local people, national governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to do most of the practical, hands-on work," the NGO Doctors Without Borders//Medecins Sans Frontieres declared earlier this month.
The lackluster global response comes despite the fact that Western-driven economic policies played a key role in gutting West African public health systems.
"People are still dying horrible deaths in an outbreak that has already killed thousands," said Dr. Joanne Liu, MSF international president. "We can't let our guard down and allow this to become double failure, a response that was slow to begin with and is ill-adapted in the end."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.