A ton of progress is definitely being made to tackle Ebola at this point. We can’t slow down on precautions, but we can celebrate major improvement.
In September there were 500 cases of Ebola detected in Liberia a week. That number has gone down to just eight last week. Numbers in Guinea and Sierra Leone are falling, too, which makes this a “turning point” according to the World Health Organization officials.
Since the outbreak started, the WHO says the recent figures are the “most promising.” But this tragic spread of the virus has changed the lives of so many people – the worst Ebola outbreak in human history. It has infected 21,724 people and killed 8,641 – primarily in West Africa.
Staying on top of managing the virus is incredibly important, though, considering it only takes one case that isn’t detected in order for the outbreak to grow again.
“We have a very attractive and promising situation that leads us to believe that perhaps we are beginning to see the end of the outbreak,” UN system coordinator for Ebola, David Nabarro, said earlier this week. “Unfortunately it’s not quite as simple and the reason for that is any case of Ebola in the region can restart an outbreak very quickly.”
Nabarro told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday that U.N. agencies needed a final $1 billion to continue to fight the epidemic in West Africa.
Substantial progress is being seen mostly in Liberia. Sierra Leone is still the hot zone for the virus’ vitality, but things look like they are beginning to lift – fingers crossed.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“The Sierra Leone problem is turning the corner. I think we’ll get close to zero there by March so long as there are no surprises,” said Philippe Maughan, senior Ebola operations manager at ECHO, the European Commission’s humanitarian aid branch.
