Suspected Ebola victim dies in Saudi Arabia

A Saudi man who was being treated for Ebola-like symptoms has died at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's health ministry says.

If confirmed, this would be the first Ebola-related death outside Africa in an outbreak that has killed more than 900 people this year.
The man recently visited Sierra Leone, one of four countries in the outbreak.
World Health Organization (WHO) experts are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss a response to the outbreak.
The two-day meeting will decide whether to declare a global health emergency.
Ebola, a viral haemorrhagic fever, is one of the deadliest diseases known to humans, with a fatality rate of up to 90%.
A WHO statement on Wednesday said 932 patients had died of the disease in West Africa so far, with most of the latest fatalities reported in Liberia.
Concern has also been growing over a number of new cases in Nigeria, the region's most populous nation. On Wednesday, a nurse who treated an Ebola patient became the second person to die of the disease there.
Nigeria's Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu described the outbreak as a national emergency, adding that "everyone in the world is at risk" because of air travel.
The Saudi man who was suspected of contracting the disease died of cardiac arrest, according to the website of the country's health ministry.
The 40-year-old is said to have returned from a recent business trip to Sierra Leone.
The ministry's website said he was being tested for Ebola, but did not say if the tests had concluded that he had the disease.
The website said the man had been treated in an isolation ward and would be buried according to Islamic tradition, while following precautions set out by world health authorities.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia stopped issuing visas to Muslims from several West African countries, amid concerns that visiting pilgrims could spread the disease.
Meanwhile, two US aid workers who contracted Ebola in Liberia appear to be improving after receiving an unapproved medicine ahead of their evacuation back to the US.
But it is not clear if the ZMapp drug, which has only been tested on monkeys, can be credited with their improvement.
Leading infectious disease experts have called for experimental treatments to be offered more widely.
The meeting of the WHO's emergency committee is focusing solely on how to respond to the Ebola outbreak.
If a public health emergency is declared, it could involve detailed plans to identify, isolate and treat cases, as well as impose travel restrictions on affected areas.
A WHO spokesman said: "We can't speculate in advance what the committee members are going to decide in advance."
The World Bank is allocating $200m (£120m) in emergency assistance for countries battling to contain Ebola.
The virus spreads by contact with infected blood and bodily fluids. The current outbreak is killing between 50% and 60% of people infected.
There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola - but patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
Ebola has initial flu-like symptoms that can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.
Ebola virus disease (EVD)

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Fatality rate can reach 90% - but the current outbreak is about 55%
• Incubation period is two to 21 days
• There is no vaccine or cure
• Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
• Fruit bats are considered to be virus' natural host

 

Ibrahima Niang, premier Sénégalais emporté par le virus Ebola

Le virus Ebola, qui est en train de faire des ravages en Afrique de l’Ouest, plus particulièrement en Guinée, a fait une victime de plus, un Sénégalais cette fois.  Il s’agit d’un nommé Ibrahima Niang, tailleur de son état, qui était basé en Guinée. Originaire de Touba Toul (région de Thiès), fils d’Abdoulaye Niang et de Nogaye Diagne, la victime a été enterrée hier à Conakry, d’après La Tribune.

Notons que le virus Ebola se propage dangereusement de la Guinée au Nigéria en passant par la Sierra Leone et le Libéria. Ce week-end, la Directrice de l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (Oms), Marguerite Chan, a affirmé que son organisme ne disposait pas d’assez de moyens pour freiner l’avancée de la pandémie.

Laeila Adjovi 'Focus On Africa' - BBC WORLD NEWS

Children, the Biggest Losers in Senegal's Fight Against Aids
By Mathilde Cru

Dakar — Children living with HIV in Senegal suffer because of the taboo associated with this disease in a country which is, however, praised for its fight against the pandemic.

"I don't want my son's HIV status to be known, my family would not take it well," explains Fanta (39), who is herself HIV positive.

"The word AIDS is too loaded," says this mother of three children, one of whom was born HIV positive 14 years ago, and who fears that both she and her teenage son would be disowned by the family if the secret was revealed.

"My mother doesn't know, she wouldn't be able to keep it to herself, I am suspicious of everyone," she told IPS, adding that her other two children do not know her and their brother's HIV status.

According to a survey conducted on 626 HIV positive people in Senegal by the National Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS (RNP+), less than half of them have told their partners about their HIV status and only 28 percent have told at least one member of their family.

"I had to talk about it [my HIV status] with my father, because if I die one day, I don't want people to think it is because of voodoo," Fanta told IPS, referring to the practice of witchcraft which, according to some, brings sudden death.

As a result of reacting swiftly to the first cases of AIDS, Senegal's HIV prevalence rate is estimated at 0.7 percent of the population, compared to 4.7 percent in Ivory Coast and 3.2 percent in Nigeria, the worst hit West African countries according to the United Nations.

Left high and dry

The stigma attached to the disease, however, has an adverse effect on continuity of care for the child living with HIV.

Mbaye Mboye, programme head at Synergy for Childhood, an organisation which manages a paediatric AIDS unit in Guediwaye, in Dakar Region, explains that when the parent of an infected child dies or when the guardian remarries or moves, it is rare for anyone to take over responsibility for care.

"We have problems with guardians, sometimes they forget to give medication, sometimes they are preoccupied with other issues," Mbaye Mboye told IPS.

"But we prefer the child's HIV status to be disclosed to a very limited few to maintain confidentiality," he adds.

This concern with confidentiality requires some creativity from both social workers and guardians, who may have to fabricate visits to imaginary relatives in order to go for appointments.

"Our social workers pretend to be family friends when they do home visits and they must verify that the person who answers the phone is the guardian on file at the hospital," says Mbaye Mboye.

According to the National Council for the Fight against AIDS (CNLS), some 6,500 children under the age of 15 were living with HIV in Senegal in 2013 and almost 8,000 are orphans or vulnerable children because of AIDS.

One of the consequences of the silence weighing on these children is that their access to antiretroviral treatment is more limited than adults. Despite free treatment since 1997, three quarters of adults in need benefited in 2011 in contrast to only one third of children, according to CNLS.

Since 2010, reimbursement of transport expenses for guardians taking children to medical appointments has reduced the number of children "falling off the radar," says Mbaye Mboye.

"Children tend to be neglected compared with the global approach to caring for adults," he laments.

HIV positive children have specific needs of school and nutrition support. Absenteeism as a result of recurrent illness results in critical educational delays and malnourishment is higher among them.

Ibrahima Ba, secretary general of RNP+, points to the economic situation, the lack of co-ordination between health staff and social workers, and the absence of a national programme specifically for children.

"Children are left high and dry," he says. "It is the mother's responsibility to take the child to hospital, and she only goes when the child is ill. If it is a minor problem, she downplays it."

Senegal has only 59 paediatric units providing care for HIV positive children compared to 97 for adults.

"There is no follow up on children who do not come regularly to hospital, no one calls the guardian," adds Ba. "The state needs to focus more on children living with HIV because they are becoming sexually active teenagers."

The reduction in international funding for AIDS is of concern to the National Alliance against AIDS (ANCS).

"We are concerned that the state is no longer taking charge and we are afraid the gains achieved in 25 years of fighting AIDS may be reversed," says Massogui Thiandoum, head of programmes at ANCS.

Edited by: Mercedes Sayagues

Juridique : Clifford Chance Casablanca conseille la République du Sénégal

Écrit par infomediaire.ma

Le cabinet d'avocats d'affaires international Clifford Chance conseille la République du Sénégal sur sa première émission de Sukuk de 100 milliards de francs CFA (environ 200 millions de dollars US). Il s'agit de la première émission souveraine de Sukuk importante réalisée en Afrique. Elle permettra au Sénégal d'attirer de nouveaux financements en adéquation avec les principes de la Shari'ah. Le Sukuk a été structuré sous forme d'Ijara. La République du Sénégal a accordé un usufruit de 99 ans sur certains de ses actifs et a décidé de les louer en retour pour effectuer des paiements de loyers aux investisseurs. L'opération a été garantie par la République du Sénégal. Les arrangeurs de cette opération sont la Société islamique pour le développement du secteur privé située à Djeddah en Arabie Saoudite (membre du Groupe de la Banque Islamique de Développement) et Citi. Mustapha Mourahib, responsable des activités de Clifford Chance en Afrique du Nord et de l'Ouest a déclaré : "Le bureau régional de Clifford Chance à Casablanca est ravi de participer à cette opération emblématique. Nous avons également participé à la réforme de la loi marocaine sur la titrisation qui permet désormais, entre autres, aux organismes de titrisation marocains (FPCTs) d'émettre des Sukuk. D'autres émissions souveraines de Sukuk seront réalisées prochainement en Afrique par notre bureau régional de Casablana qui vient d'obtenir le statut CFC". L'équipe de Clifford Chance qui a conseillé la République du Sénégal était dirigée par Qudeer Latif (associé, responsable mondial de la finance islamique à Dubaï), Mustapha Mourahib (Managing partner du bureau de Casablanca et responsable des activités de Clifford Chance en Afrique du Nord et de l'Ouest), assistés de Shauaib Mirza (Dubaï) et Ouns Lemseffer (Casablanca). A noter par ailleurs que les bureaux de Clifford Chance à Casablanca et Londres ont également récemment conseillé, avec une équipe dirigée par Mustapha Mourahib et David Dunnigan, OCP dans le cadre de sa première émission de 1,55 milliard de dollars et les arrangeurs (Barclays, BNP Paribas et Citi) dans le cadre de l'émission d'un Eurobond de 300 millions de dollars par BMCE Bank sur les marchés internationaux (première émission obligataire internationale en dollars d'une société marocaine).

Senegal police fire teargas on supporters of ex-president's son

DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegalese police used teargas to disperse hundreds of supporters of Karim Wade, the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade, as his corruption trial entered its second day on Monday.

Witnesses said police fired teargas after Wade's supporters became angry at being refused entry to Dakar's Palais de Justice where a special court is handling the case that has raised political tensions in the usually stable West African state.

Wade, nicknamed "the minister of heaven and earth" because he controlled five ministries when his father was in power, is accused of illegally amassing a fortune of 117 billion CFA francs ($240 million).

Wade, who denies any wrongdoing, said at the opening of his trial last week that he was a "political prisoner". His supporters say the trial is part of a plot by the government to purge its political rivals.

Government officials and prosecution lawyers say the trial sets an important precedent for African countries to try their former leaders themselves.

Defence lawyers sought for the case to be dismissed on Monday, saying the court was not competent to judge their client.

A Wade supporter briefly disrupted proceedings by approaching the bar and shouting that the judge was corrupt, before being escorted out by officials. ($1 = 488.6100 Central African CFA Franc BEACs)

(Reporting by Diadie Ba; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Libye : Un obus tombe dans un foyer, tue deux Sénégalais et en blesse quatre autres

Le Ministère des Affaires étrangères et des Sénégalais de l’Extérieur, dans un communiqué a indiqué avoir appris la mort à Tripoli (Libye), de deux sénégalais victimes d’un obus tombé dans un foyer d’émigrés, le samedi 2 août 2014, dans l’après midi.  
Quatre autres sénégalais, ont été blessés lors de cette attaque, nous dit toujours le communiqué.
Les services de Mankeur Ndiaye en collaboration avec le Président de l’Association des Sénégalais vivant à Tripoli suivent cette triste affaire. Ce dernier serait également en train de faire le recensement de nos ressortissants sénégalais qui souhaiteraient être rapatriés, nous dit-on.