The number of confirmed Ebola cases in eight different countries reached 13,500 last week, said the World Health Organization. While there is a relative decline in Liberia, which accounts for half of all cases, experts are witnessing a rapid rise of cases in Sierra Leone.
The new Ebola cases in Sierra Leone have jumped dramatically only days after the United Nations warned that infections in the country were being underreported by up to 50%. According to official numbers by the world Health Organization (WHO), globally, the confirmed cases of the deadly disease were 13,592, including 5,408 deaths as of November 4, 2014. However, the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the actual number of cases in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are two or even three times higher. Now the minister of health in Sierra Leone released official figures, showing that there were 111 new cases registered on Sunday.
Earlier, health experts said the epidemic seems to be slowing down in the country, that was hit the hardest, Liberia. Medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) says it is witnessing a sharp decline in patients, with two hundred empty beds in its hospital in Monrovia. Finally the international aid is reaching the country, but the number of new cases could rise again. By December 2014, there could be as many as 10,000 new Ebola cases per week, according to the assistant director-general of the WHO.
Meanwhile, the UN Population Fund estimated that there are approximately 800,000 women in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, who are due to give birth in the next 12 months. Currently, one in seven women dies in childbirth in these countries, which means some 120,000 could face complications. As people tend to refuse pregnant women help as they are afraid of bodily fluids, many of them could face complications. According to a group of leading charities in the UK, tens of thousands women may die.
