Guinea: Ebola Health Team Members Killed By Villagers

 

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Details continue to emerge on the horrific slaying of (reports range from 7 to 9) members of an Ebola health team this week in Wome - a small village near Nzerekore in the southern part of Guinea - with this latest report from the BBC.

 

19 September 2014 Last updated at 04:58 ET

Ebola outbreak: Guinea health team killed

Nine members of a team trying to raise awareness about Ebola have been killed by villagers using machetes and clubs in Guinea, officials say.

Some of the bodies - of health workers, local officials and journalists - were found in a septic tank in a village school near the city of Nzerekore.

Correspondents say many villagers are suspicious of official attempts to combat the disease.

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A government delegation, led by the health minister, had been dispatched to the region but they were unable to reach the village by road because a main bridge had been blocked.

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One of the huge problems in combating Ebola has been the belief – perpetuated in some cases even by local media – that Ebola is either not real, or part of some evil plot hatched by the western world (see WaPo article Largest Liberian Newspaper: US Government Manufactured Ebola, AIDS Virus) to kill Africans.

 

All of which makes working in the hot zone doubly dangerous. 

 

Adding to the challenges of educating the public, the literacy rates in West Africa are among the lowest on the continent, with Guinea coming in 49th (29.5%) out of 52 African nations.  Sierra Leone fares only slightly better (35.1%) and Liberia is just shy of midway in the pack, with a literacy rate of 57.5% (source The African Economist).

 

How much of a chill this latest tragedy will put on Ebola outreach efforts in the more remote areas of Guinea remains to be seen, but this incident – and the Health Ministry’s inability to launch a timely rescue mission -  illustrates how little actual control the government has over some regions of their country.

Pakistan: 3 More Polio Workers Murdered

 

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This headline is sadly becoming all too common, as once again attacks on polio workers have claimed multiple lives in Pakistan.  This report from The Hindu.

 

Updated: January 21, 2014 20:00 IST

Three polio workers killed in Karachi

Armed men on motorcycles opened fire on a polio team in Karachi fatally injuring three members including two women, in Qayyumabad area in Karachi East on Tuesday.

The polio vaccination drive had entered its second day today and now the members are unwilling to go ahead with the drive, according to unofficial sources. The polio team comprising four people was targeted while they were administering the oral polio vaccine in a crowded area of the city.

Sindh province reported six cases of the total 91 in 2013 and four of them were from Karachi. The polio drive was aimed at immunising over seven million children and was to continue for a couple of days.

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The campaign against immunization by the Taliban began eight years ago, but appears to have gained greater ferocity after it was disclosed that a sham hepatitis vaccination campaign was used as a CIA cover in the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden  (see Maryn McKenna’s Update: Pakistan, Polio, Fake Vaccines And The CIA).

 

Additionally, many believe that vaccinations are part of a Western plot to sterilize Muslims, a notion that some local clerics have helped foster.

 

The recent detection of Polio in Syria (see WHO: Update On Polio Detection In Syria) has been genetically linked to a  poliovirus circulating in Pakistan, making the containment and eradication of this virus in that country a global concern.

Pakistan: 3 More Polio Workers Killed

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Via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, we get the sad news that another series of attacks has killed three Polio workers and/or their protection details in Pakistan.  Over the past year we’ve seen a number of horrific coordinated attacks made against aid workers, either involved with or associated with the Polio Vaccination drives in Pakistan.

 

Friday, December 13, 2013

Pakistan

Three Killed After Pakistan Resumes Antipolio Campaign

At least three people have been killed in Pakistan's tribal areas after the resumption of an antipolio campaign.

RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal reports that gunmen shot and killed two police officers assigned to protect a team of polio-vaccination workers in northwestern Pakistan.

The incident occurred north of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, on December 13.
Reports said the attackers fled the scene.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

In a second incident, Esmattulah Wazir, a political administrator in the tribal areas, said unknown assailants shot dead a polio worker named Yousef in his home.

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The campaign against immunization by the Taliban began eight years ago, but appears to have gained greater ferocity after it was disclosed that a sham hepatitis vaccination campaign was used as a CIA cover in the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden  (see Maryn McKenna’s Update: Pakistan, Polio, Fake Vaccines And The CIA).

 

Additionally, many believe that vaccinations are part of a Western plot to sterilize Muslims, a notion that some local clerics have helped foster.

 

The recent detection of Polio in Syria (see WHO: Update On Polio Detection In Syria) has been genetically linked to a  poliovirus circulating in Pakistan, making the containment and eradication of this virus in that country a global concern.

Pakistan: Gunmen Kill Two More Anti-Polio Workers

 

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The carnage in Pakistan continues, with twin attacks yesterday in the southwest – including an assault on a hospital – claiming at least 25 lives, and today, reports of two more anti-polio workers murdered in northwest Pakistan.

 

This from the Associated Press:

 

Gunmen in Pakistan kill 2 anti-polio workers

Sunday, 16 June 2013 

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani police say gunmen have killed two anti-polio workers in northwest Pakistan.

Swabi District Police Chief Mohammad Saeed says the two Pakistani health workers were killed Sunday while on a vaccination drive in Kandar village.

 

He says gunmen arrived on foot and later disappeared.

 

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AFP is carrying a similar report, although they report the gunmen rode a motorbike.  In either event, this is just the latest in a series of deadly attacks on anti-polio workers in Pakistan.

 

Over the past 6 months we’ve seen horrific coordinated attacks made against aid workers, either involved with or associated with the Polio Vaccination drives in Pakistan.

 

The first attack (see Pakistan: 6 Polio Workers Murdered) was reported on December 18th, the next day (see Pakistan: Fresh Attacks On WHO/UNICEF Polio Workers) we learned of 3 more deaths, and on January 1st  the headlines read : 7 More Aid Workers Killed In Pakistan.

 

Since then, additional attacks have occurred, often resulting in temporary suspension of their vaccination efforts. Pakistan is one of 3 countries where the polio virus is still endemic (the others being Afghanistan and Nigeria).

 

The Pakistan attacks appear related to the Taliban’s  condemnation of polio immunization campaigns after the use of a sham hepatitis vaccination campaign as a CIA cover in the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden (see Maryn McKenna’s Update: Pakistan, Polio, Fake Vaccines And The CIA).

Pakistan: Another Polio Vaccination Related Murder

 

 

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The murderous vendetta against polio vaccination teams in Pakistan continues with word today that a policeman was killed in the northwestern town of Mardan while guarding a team of polio vaccination workers.

 

Over the past 2 and a half months we’ve seen horrific coordinated attacks made against aid workers, either involved with or associated with the Polio Vaccination drives in Pakistan.

 

The first attack (see Pakistan: 6 Polio Workers Murdered) was reported on December 18th, the next day (see Pakistan: Fresh Attacks On WHO/UNICEF Polio Workers) we learned of 3 more deaths, and on January 1st  the headlines read : 7 More Aid Workers Killed In Pakistan.

 

Since then, additional attacks have occurred. Pakistan is one of 3 countries where the polio virus is still endemic (the others being Afghanistan and Nigeria).

 

Nigeria has also seen violence directed at polio workers. Earlier this month we saw Nigeria: Nine Polio Workers Murdered, presumably as part of a larger effort to impose Sharia law in Nigeria by a militant Islamist group.

 

The Pakistan attacks appear related to the Taliban’s  condemnation of polio immunization campaigns after the use of a sham hepatitis vaccination campaign as a CIA cover in the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden (see Maryn McKenna’s Update: Pakistan, Polio, Fake Vaccines And The CIA).

 

This from AFP.

 

Policeman killed in fresh attack on polio team

AFP

PESHAWAR: A policeman was shot dead Tuesday while protecting a polio vaccination team, police said, bringing the death toll in such attacks to 20 since December.

 

No one has claimed responsibility for the killings.

 

Tuesday’s killing happened at Ghalla Dher on the outskirts of the northwestern town of Mardan, on the second day of a three-day local anti-polio campaign.

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