Last Known Ebola Patient in Liberia Is Discharged

March 9, 2015 Liberia’s last Ebola patient was discharged on Thursday after a ceremony in the capital, Monrovia, bringing to zero the number of known cases in the country and marking a milestone in West Africa’s battle against the disease. Officials in Monrovia, the city where the raging epidemic littered the streets with bodies only

Demand for this Ebola Drug is Soaring

March 4, 2015 Shigetaka Komori, the CEO of Fujifilm Holdings, on Tuesday said about 20 countries have shown interest in Avigan, an Ebola drug developed by Fujifilm’s subsidiary, Toyama Chemical. The interest from these countries grew rapidly because Avigan has shown signs of efficacy against the Ebola virus, which has killed about 9,500 people in

Israel Forcibly Injected African Immigrants with Birth Control, Report Claims

March 4, 2015 A report revealing that African women immigrating to Israel were subjected to mandatory contraceptive injections, effectively amounting to forced (if temporary) sterilization made global headlines. Some 130,000 Ethiopians, most of them Jewish, live in Israel. The community experiences higher poverty and unemployment rates than the rest of the country’s Jewish population. In

Ebola survivor ‘hiding’ from community

March 3, 2015 Siannie Beyan stood on the stage with the other Ebola survivors in Monrovia’s City Hall, singing a short, joyful hymn, and trying to hold onto a smile. As the crisis fades here in Liberia – no new confirmed infections for 10 days and counting – there is a tangible sense of relief.

Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone vice-president quarantined

March 1, 2015 The vice-president of Sierra Leone has put himself into quarantine after one of his bodyguards died from Ebola. Samuel Sam-Sumana said he would stay out of contact with others for 21 days as a precaution. There was optimism the virus was on the decline in Sierra Leone at the end of last

12 Things You Didn’t Know About Doctors Without Borders in Africa

March 1, 2015 As our hearts go out to Paris and France, recently attacked by anti-Semitic hijackers of Islam and the world, it’s comforting to honor a French-born organization that helps heal the world. During the Parisian strikes and protests of May 1968, a group of young doctors decided to go and help victims of wars and major disasters. The volatile period

Here’s What Happens To Your Brain When You Give Up Sugar For Lent

February 24, 2015 Anyone who knows me also knows that I have a huge sweet tooth. I always have. My friend and fellow graduate student Andrew is equally afflicted, and living in Hershey, Pennsylvania – the “Chocolate Capital of the World” – doesn’t help either of us. But Andrew is braver than I am. Last

Ebola crisis: Liberia to open borders as infection falls

February 21, 2015 Liberia is to reopen its borders following a reduction in the number of Ebola cases being reported in the country. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made the announcement on Friday and said nationwide curfews would also be lifted. New infections have dropped to one-tenth of the level seen when the virus was at