Also in attendance are governors of Central Banks and foreign Ministers from the ECOWAS.

The Presidential Task-force meeting on a single currency for the West African sub-region in Ghana, will be chaired by President Akufo-Addo.

It will be held at the Accra International Conference Centre from the 21st of February. The Presidential Task-force meeting will be preceded by two meetings namely: The 6th Technical Meeting of the Presidential Task Force and the 2nd Ministerial Meeting of the Presidential Task Force.”

Representatives of the Ministries of Finance and Economy of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, Niger and Nigeria, Central Banks of ECOWAS Members State and the regional institutions involved in the ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation Programme (EMCP), namely the ECOWAS Commission, UEMOA Commission, West African Monetary Agency (WAMA), West African Monetary Institution (WAMI) BCEAO and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), will be in attendance for the Technical Meetings.

The meeting will provide a platform to deliberate on issues related to the ECOWAS single currency Programme and review strategies to accelerate the single currency by 2020.

The single Currency programme is in line with the vision of ECOWAS to transform the sub-region into an economic and monetary union.

“ECOWAS was founded with the aim the transforming the sub-region into an economic and monetary union. This led to the adoption of the Community Authority of the ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation Programme (EMCP) in July 1987.”

The last ECOWAS single Currency Programme was held in Niamey, Niger in October 2017.

Roads to be closed for 5th ECOWAS Presidential Task-force meeting

The Accra Regional Police Command has announced a temporary closure of some roads in Accra ahead of the meeting.

In a statement signed by the Public Relations officer for Accra Regional Police Command, the Police said there will be a temporary closure of the Osu Cemetary Traffic Light on the Castle Road to AU Circle, intermittent closure on the Independence Avenue through 37 interchanges to AU circle.

The Regional Police Command urged the general public to cooperate with the police for effective traffic management.

“The general public is urged to cooperate with the police to ensure effective traffic management.Any inconvenience that these arrangements would cause is deeply regretted”.
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The visit by the Ivorian President comes barely a month after Ghana emerged victorious in a maritime dispute with Ivory Coast at the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Germany.

[contextly_sidebar id=”M782jtHco1vrbJIoqymsFKhi3O4KPzis”]The two countries have already accepted the decision of ITLOS, and have agreed to work towards implementing the judgement.

The two leaders will address a joint press conference after their meeting and sign bilateral agreements as well as inaugurate a joint commission for the implementation of the delimitation of the maritime boundaries of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

The two leaders are also scheduled to discuss issues related to illegal mining popularly called Galamsey.

Police to close specific roads for Ivorian President’s visit

Meanwhile the Accra Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service, will be closing some roads temporarily in Accra, in anticipation of Mr. Ouattara’s visit.

The roads to be affected by the closures are the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue towards the Central Business District, Liberation Road towards Central Business District, and the Atta Mills Highway from James Town towards Osu.

The roads will be closed from 11: 00 am and reopened after a scheduled ceremonial procession.

The police will be assisting motorists on alternative routes.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Sierra Leone had asked for permission to play some of its African Cup qualifiers in Ghana because of the Ebola outbreak at home.

The Confederation of African Football said in a statement on Tuesday that Sierra Leone indicated it wanted to move its home ties in the final qualifying round to Ghana.

Caf said the request had been made to Ghanaian authorities and ‘necessary reviews are being undertaken.’

As Citi Sports reported earlier, the GFA have now responded, asking their West African neighbours to deal with the matter at a governmental level.

Statement in full

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has received a request from our brothers at the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) seeking to play their 2015  Africa Cup of Nations qualifying home matches in Accra.

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Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan fell ill early last week while overseeing Ebola treatment at Kenema Government Hospital, about 185 miles east of Sierra Leone’s capital city, Freetown.

He was treated by the French aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres — also known as Doctors Without Borders — in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, up until his death, spokesman Tim Shenk said.

“RIP Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan,” wrote one of the many people who remembered Khan fondly on Twitter. “What a hero. What a loss.”

A University of Sierra Leone graduate, Khan worked for that African country’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation, including as head of the Lassa fever program at Kenema Government Hospital, according to the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Consortium.

Lassa fever is a virus common in west Africa, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes.

While in that latter post, Khan contracted with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, consulted with the World Health Organization/Tulane University on its Mano River Union Lassa fever network and was physician-in-charge of his hospital’s HIV/AIDS program.

Khan continued his training in Ghana from 2010 to 2013, before returning to head the Kenema Government Hospital’s Lassa fever program and becoming a lecturer at the University of Sierra Leone. The Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Consortium described him as “one of the world’s leading experts in the clinical care of viral hemorrhagic fevers” — among them, Ebola.

This disease typically kills 90% of those infected, but the death rate in this outbreak has dropped to roughly 60% because of early treatment. The outbreak is happening primarily in three West African countries: Guinea, where it began, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

As of July 23, the World Health Organization had confirmed more than 800 Ebola cases in the region, but it suspects there have been many unreported infections and there may be as many as 1,200 cases.

Sierra Leone has been hardest hit, with approximately 525 cases.

“Dr. Khan was an extremely determined and courageous doctor who cared deeply for his patients,” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.

“His work and dedication have been greatly appreciated by the medical community in Sierra Leone for many years. He will be remembered and missed by many, especially by the doctors and nurses that worked with him. MSF’s sincere thoughts and condolences are with Dr. Khan’s family, friends and colleagues.”

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Source: CNN

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The experts are from the World Health Organization and the Doctors Without Borders charity.

This comes after six suspected Ebola patients were taken out of hospitals by their families, defying doctors. One of the patients later died amid fears that the virus could spread, a local health official said.

Nearly 200 people have died of Ebola in West Africa since an outbreak was first reported in Guinea in March. There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola – one of the world’s deadliest viruses.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Fatality rate can reach 90%
• Incubation period is two to 21 days
• There is no vaccine or cure
• Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
• Fruit bats are considered to be the natural host of the virus

Why is so dangerous

But people have a better chance of surviving if it is identified early and they receive medical attention.

Ebola can kill up to 90% of those infected and is passed on through contact with the fluids of infected people or animals, such as urine, sweat and blood.

‘Aggressive’ removal

The medical teams are expected to arrive in a remote part of Sierra Leone later on Thursday.

Just touching the body of an infected person can cause deadly transmission, so the experts will be covered from head to foot in protective clothing, the BBC’s Mark Doyle reports.

But they are facing another obstacle even before they start work, following the removal from a clinic of the six suspected patients.

Dr Amara Jambai, the director of disease prevention and control at Sierra Leone’s health ministry, told the BBC that staff at the clinic in Koindu town in eastern Sierra Leone had tried to stop the patients from being removed.

However, the families ad been “aggressive” as they took their relatives away, he said.

The families apparently feared their loved ones would die a lonely death.

But they also appear not to have understood the grave danger they have put themselves and their communities in by trying to take care of the patients themselves.

The relatives’ love for their sick relatives may end up killing them all, our correspondent adds.

Dr Jambai said two people had so far died of Ebola in Sierra Leone, and not four as previously reported.

Guinea has been worst-affected, with 258 suspected and confirmed cases of Ebola, including 174 deaths – 146 of which have been laboratory-confirmed positive.

In Liberia, there have been 12 suspected cases, with nine deaths.

Source: BBC

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They died in the eastern Kailahun district, which borders southern Guinea where the outbreak started in March and has killed more than 145 people.

There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola – one of the world’s deadliest viruses.

But people have a better chance of surviving if it is identified early and they get supportive medical care.

Ebola can kill up to 90% of those infected and is passed on through contact with the fluids of infected people or animals, such as urine, sweat and blood.

‘Scared’

Dr Amara Jambai, the director of disease prevention and control at Sierra Leone’s health ministry, said a health worker was among the four people who had died of Ebola.

The deaths had occurred over the last three to four days, he said.

People who developed a fever should immediately report a medical facility and an emergency medical team has been deployed to the remote area, Dr Jambai said.

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