Faulty Data Hampers Ebola Response

A Dec. 8 Associated Press report by Maria Cheng and Sara DiLorenzo shined light on a troubling aspect of Ebola response — some of the treatment and mortality numbers being produced are not accurate. According to the report ‘Ebola Faulty Data Adds Another Problem’:

A week ago, the World Health Organization insisted at a media briefing it had mostly met targets to isolate 70 percent of Ebola patients and bury 70 percent of victims safely in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. But two days later, WHO backtracked and said that data inconsistencies meant they really didn’t know how many patients were being isolated. Then the U.N. health agency also conceded that many of the safe burials were of people not actually killed by Ebola.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, who is leading the World Health Organization’s Ebola response, said accurate data is essential in moving from slowing Ebola’s exponential growth to ending the largest outbreak of the infection in history. Aylward told the AP that, ‘Unfortunately at the moment, the data right now is not enough for us to get to zero.’

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US Ebola Czar to Leave in Early 2015

Ron Klain, appointed in October by President Barack Obama to lead the United States’ Ebola response, will leave his post March 1, according to CNBC and other reports. Klain is an attorney who served as chief of staff for two sitting Democratic vice presidents.

Ebola claims third doctor in Sierra Leone

A third doctor succumbed to Ebola in Sierra Leone, according to the Dec. 7 report ‘Third Sierra Leone Doctor Dies of Ebola’ on AlJazeera.com. Dr. Aiah Solomon Konoyeima died Saturday after contracting the infection while administering care at a children’s hospital in Freetown, according to the report.