AHF Mourns Liberia's Dr. Taban Dada; Urges African Union and W.H.O. to Accelerate Ebola Response

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) mourns the loss of another Doctor, Dr. John Taban Dada, who died due to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa. Dr. Dada, a Ugandan national, succumbed to the Disease on 9^th October 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. By the time of his death, Dr. Dada was working at Liberia's largest hospital, JF Kennedy Memorial Center, and was consulting with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation partner in HIV service provision, People Associated for People's Assistance (PAPA

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has continued a persistent spread pushing the death toll over 4,000 as of 9^th October 2014. Having been declared an international public health emergency by the World Health Organization, Ebola Virus Disease has infected over 370 health workers and killed 216 doctors and nurses. In July, Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, 39, who served as Medical Officer for AHF's Sierra Leone Country Program, succumbed to the disease after being quarantined and cared for by medical providers from Médecins Sans Frontières at the isolation unit in the Kailahun District in Eastern Sierra Leone for several days. In Liberia, Dr. Dada's death brought to four (4) the number of Doctors who have died since the outbreak.

"Our brothers and sisters in West Africa need accelerated action by commissions such as the African Union and the World Health Organization to expand provision of appropriate and adequate personal protective equipment, mobilize and deploy more health workers in the region, and increase and equip more isolation centers specifically established to cater for infected health workers," said Dr. Penninah Iutung Amor, the AHF Bureau Chief for the African Region. "All these are achievable but only if the commissions and the World Health Organization prioritize and scale up addressing obstacles that are holding us back in the response."

There was hope late September when President Obama pledged support to the EVD response in the region; however, the actualization of this support has been delayed due to logistical challenges -- inadequate human resources for health, poor state of the runway at the airport, and delays in setting up new isolation centers. "Since we have few isolation centers, we are seeing some people suffering from Ebola re-circulating into the community and therefore driving the infection further," said Chinnie Sieh, Program Manager with People Associated for People's Assistance (PAPA). "This is a crisis that requires all the Africa Commissions, the United Nations, all African governments and non-government actors to respond."

"It is high time that the containment of this outbreak became a reality in the West African Countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia," said Dr. Lydia Buzaalirwa, the Director for Quality Management with AIDS Healthcare Foundation Africa Bureau. "Everybody needs to take part in the control of Ebola. We need to cut the chain of new transmissions, get in more volunteers, more logistics, and communities should be involved in building new isolation units. We demand that the African Union step up its leadership and exponentially accelerate its response to the Ebola outbreak in the region."

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 350,000 individuals in 36 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare.

Contacts:

AIDS Healthcare Foundation
US:
Ged Kenslea, Senior Director, Communications, AHF
Telephone: [phone]
Mobile: [phone]
[e-mail]
or
AFRICA:
Alice Kayongo, Regional Policy and Advocacy Manager East/West Africa Bureau for AHF
Telephone: [phone]
Mobile: [phone] 0108
[e-mail]