Get these stories delivered to your inbox.
With word of a doctor in NYC coming down with ebola, there’s a potentially much more worrying development: a two year old girl has tested positive for ebola in Mali.
In Mali: “Speaking on state television on Thursday, Malian Health Minister Ousmane Kone said the infected girl was being treated in the western town of Kayes. She was brought to a local hospital on Wednesday and her blood sample was Ebola-positive, Mr Kone said. The child and those who have come into contact with her have been put in quarantine.The girl’s mother died in Guinea a few weeks ago and the child was then brought by relatives to Mali, Reuters news agency quotes a health ministry official as saying. Mali is now the sixth West African country to be affected by the latest Ebola outbreak – however Senegal and Nigeria have since been declared virus-free by the WHO. (BBC http://bbc.in/1thmX2m)
In New York. A physician working with MSF in Guinea has tested positive for the disease in New York City. This is the first imported case to the USA’s largest city. “The doctor, Craig Spencer, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center on Thursday and placed in isolation while health care workers spread out across the city to trace anyone he might have come into contact with in recent days. A further test will be conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the initial test. While officials have said they expected isolated cases of the disease to arrive in New York eventually, and had been preparing for this moment for months, the first case highlighted the challenges surrounding containment of the virus, especially in a crowded metropolis.” (NYT http://nyti.ms/1thmxsP)
From DAWNS Subscriber Mike R: “On October 25th activists in more than 35 countries will mobilize their communities for the first Global Day of Action for the Right to Health by holding marches, rallies, teach-ins, and candlelight vigils to raise awareness of health disparities across the globe and demand political action to address them. The Day of Action is being coordinated by the Article 25 Education Fund (http://join25.org/), and other groups focused on creating a social movement for the right to health and article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” http://bit.ly/1thmPjo
Ebola
Ebola has now reached every district in Sierra Leone and all but one district in Liberia, with “intense transmission” in these countries’ capital cities, according to the WHO. West Africa today is nowhere near goals set by the United Nations to get the outbreak under control, according to the WHO. (USA Today http://usat.ly/1thnOjM)
Why a proven ebola vaccine sat on the shelf almost a decade ago (NYT http://nyti.ms/1tho0iW)
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen said Thursday he was boosting his donations to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to $100 million. (AFP http://bit.ly/1thr26E)
Africa
Suspected Boko Haram militants kidnapped at least 25 girls in an attack on a remote town in northeastern Nigeria, witnesses said, despite talks on freeing over 200 other female hostages they seized in April. (Irish Times http://bit.ly/1thompC)
A group of South Sudanese women peace activists has suggested that men in the civil war-torn country be denied sex until they stop fighting. (News Vision http://bit.ly/1thr52m)
USAID has announced a $75 million food security program in Madagascar. (USAID http://1.usa.gov/1thrvG6)
MENA
Auditors and employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development say critical assessments of the agency’s work in Egypt were removed from a report before it was released by the agency’s inspector general he Washington Post reported on Thursday. (Reuters http://reut.rs/1thq5LS)
The UN has launched a $2.2 billion humanitarian appeal for Iraq. (OCHA http://bit.ly/1thqyxx)
Asia
China’s Communist leaders promised legal reforms on Thursday that could give judges more independence from interference by local officials but will leave the party essentially above the law, after a high-level meeting that had been billed as a pivotal moment in the country’s legal history. (WaPo http://wapo.st/1thoQw9)
India is set to sign a memorandum on Friday to be one of the 21 founding members of the newly established Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), an initiative by China. (Times of India http://bit.ly/1thptWu)
Nine members of the Hazara community were shot dead in what appeared to be targeted killings in different parts of Quetta, Pakistan. (Tribune–Pakistan http://bit.ly/1thoDZH)
Former U.S. government officials say the release of an American who had been detained in North Korea for nearly six months is not likely to significantly affect relations between Washington and Pyongyang. (VOA http://bit.ly/1thoGVD)
The Americas
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto renewed his pledge to punish perpetrators of alleged massacres by security forces as a state governor stepped down amid a crisis that’s overshadowing the Mexican president’s economic agenda. (Bloomberg http://bloom.bg/1thoyFD)
The U.S. government urged a federal judge on Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the United Nations by a group of Haitians who claim peacekeepers caused the devastating cholera epidemic that followed their country’s 2010 earthquake. (Reuters http://reut.rs/1thqgXo )
Opinion/Blogs
Americans don’t know much about African geography and that is undermining the fight against ebola…and US policy in Africa in general. Mark interviews Laura Seay in the newest episode of the Global Dispatches Podcast http://bit.ly/1nAI0er
America is losing influence in Latin America–and that’s great news. (The Week http://bit.ly/1thpp9h)
South Sudan peace deal offers glimmer of hope. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1thrbXR)