The Awful Ebola-Maternal Mortality Nexus…You don’t need ebola to die from it. Reporting from Monrovia, Jina Moore describes how fear of ebola and a broken health system are killing pregnant women. “Liberia has one of the highest rates of maternal death in the world. Giving birth here is always risky, even when you can count on a clinic being open.The women serving the maternity ward at a clinic in West Point keep coming to work — for now. West Point is a densely packed informal neighborhood (or “slum”) that just this week has become a hotspot of Ebola in Monrovia. In a normal week, before Ebola, the maternity ward might see 10 or 15 births. Now, they’re seeing only one or two — and not all of them stay until they give birth.” (BuzzFeed)
- Ebola
- Doctors and nurses fighting Ebola in West Africa are working 14-hour days, seven days a week, wearing head-to-toe gear in the heat of muddy clinics. (AP)
A crowd in a slum in the capital of Liberia attacked an Ebola holding facility Saturday. As the government tries to save face, the residents try to separate truth from fiction. (BuzzFeed)
Authorities in countries affected by Ebola should check people departing at international airports, seaports and major border crossings and stop any with signs of the virus from travelling, the WHO said on Monday. (Reuters)
- Africa
- Security forces in war-torn South Sudan have shut one of the country’s main independent radio stations and arrested its news editor after it broadcast rebel views, the station said Monday. (AFP)
Cameroon’s border area are becoming increasingly deserted due to persistent attacks, looting and kidnappings by suspected members of the militant group. (VOA)
Eight people were killed following the renewal of tribal clashes between Reizaigat and Ma’alia in East Darfur state. (Sudan Tribune)
Somalia’s journalist union on Monday urged the government to ensure a fair trial of three colleagues arrested last week when security forces stormed a major radio station for “negative” broadcasts. (AP)
The West African country of Cameroon has many problems, reflected in its dismal social indicators. But it is the issue of homosexuality that seems to excite the most comment from government and church leaders. (IRIN)
Kenya’s internationally funded anti-terrorism police have carried out a series of killings and “enforced disappearances” following a string of attacks in the country, Human Rights Watch said. (Reuters)
Children and teenagers who were drawn into Côte d’Ivoire’s 2010-2011 post-election conflict are joining armed gangs in the commercial capital Abidjan after being abandoned by politicians and others who exploited them at the time, according to local officials who blame the government for not taking action. (IRIN)
- MENA
- Pope Francis delivered a mixed verdict on US airstrikes in Iraq on Monday, saying that while it’s morally legitimate to stop an unjust aggressor, as America says it’s doing with regard to the radical Islamic State in northern Iraq, a single nation shouldn’t decide for itself when the use of force is warranted. (Boston Globe)
Israel’s Shin Bet security service said Monday it had thwarted a Hamas coup attempt in the West Bank aimed at toppling Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, though it offered few details. (AP)
The United Nations said Monday it was undertaking a mass polio vaccination campaign in Iraq, hoping to reach millions of children as the highly contagious virus crosses from Syria into neighboring countries. (AP)
Britain has moved past a strictly humanitarian mission in Iraq — and the country’s leader warned Monday that the effort won’t be over any time soon. (AP)
Talks in Cairo on ending the Gaza war showed no signs of a breakthrough on Monday, with Israel and the Palestinians entrenched in their demands hours before the expiration of a five-day ceasefire. (Reuters)
- Asia
- The death toll from three days of flooding and torrential rain in Nepal and India rose to more than 180 people Monday, as relief teams sent food, tents and medicine to prevent any outbreaks of disease. (AP)
In a blow to efforts to improve often-hostile ties, India on Monday called off talks with Pakistan over a meeting between its ambassador and Kashmiri separatists. (ABC)
- The Americas
- Police hurled tear gas and marched on protesters late Sunday in Ferguson, the St Louis suburb wracked by race riots since police shot dead an unarmed black teenager. Some of the youths carried signs protesting police brutality. (AP)
A survey by Feeding America, a network of US food banks, found that one-quarter of all U.S. military households used a food pantry in 2013. But service members are often reluctant to seek such help. (NPR)
- Opinion/Blogs
- Bitcoin shakes up remittances as poorer people offered digital deals (Guardian)
Procedural Safeguards and Corruption-Resistant Institutions (Global Anticorruption Blog)
Data Revolution from the Bottom-Up (CGD)
Fed on food aid: does emergency nutrition cripple local economies? (Guardian Professional)
Australia’s economic diplomacy: is this good development? (DevPolicy)
Mark Goldberg talks with Jeff Sachs about growing up in turbulent Detroit, why he gravitated towards economics in college, his experience helping countries transition from communism to market economies, and how he became devoted to global health and development. (UN Dispatch)
