Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/409594
ADELBENSALAH—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization, addresses the media during a media conference in Gammarth, northeastern Tunisia, on Monday. ByMariaCheng TheAssociatedPress LONDON After acknowl- edging that it bungled the response to the biggest Ebola outbreak in history, the World Health Organi- zation is electing a new re- gional director for its Af- rica office this week. Crit- ics say it's about time. WHO Africa is widely acknowledged to be the U.N. health agency's weakest regional office. In an internal draft docu- ment obtained by the As- sociated Press last month, WHO blamed its staff in Africa for initially botch- ing the response to Ebola, describing many of its re- gional staff as "politically- motivated appointments" and noted numerous com- plaints about WHO offi- cials in West Africa. WHO has six regional offices including Africa — all of them are largely au- tonomous and do not an- swer to the Geneva head- quarters. The U.N. agency was intentionally set up as a fragmented organi- zation in 1948 because it was feared existing re- gional health organiza- tions wouldn't want to join WHO unless they had a high degree of indepen- dence. Whoever is chosen as Africa's new WHO head probably won't have a big role in ending Ebola since the U.N. has already taken charge of control efforts, but the new director could be key to preventing simi- lar disasters in the future. First, its structure must be overhauled, experts say. "Everyone working in global health knows that if you want anything done in the African region, the last people you go to is (WHO) Africa," said Kel- ley Lee, an associate dean in health sciences at Si- mon Fraser University in Canada, who has studied the governance of public health agencies. She said the WHO Africa office is plagued by a profound lack of transparency and said many top jobs are doled out as political fa- vors. The outgoing director of WHO Africa, Dr. Luis Sambo, rejected the need for major change when he was elected in 2005, vow- ing that "there will be no radical shake-up." Sambo oversaw the WHO Africa response to Ebola and has declined numerous inter- view requests. Having already served two terms as regional di- rector, he is ineligible to run again in the elections held at a committee meet- ing in Benin this week. There are five candi- dates jostling to be the new Africa director: Jean- Marie Okwo-Bele, a Con- golese doctor in charge of the vaccination program at WHO Geneva, Mali's Dr. Fatoumata Nafo Traore, director of the Roll Back Malaria partnership, Dor- othee Akoko Kinde-Gaz- ard, Benin's health minis- ter, Therese N'Dri Yoman of Cote d'Ivoire, a past health minister, and Dr. Matshidiso Moeti of Bo- tswana, who previously ran the country's epide- miology department. In a report on lessons learned from Ebola re- leased ahead of this week's meeting, the WHO Africa office said the explosive spread of the lethal vi- rus was due to issues in- cluding poor awareness and badly trained health workers. It didn't mention several problems detailed in the internal WHO doc- ument written in Geneva, which observed that WHO staff in Africa refused to help get visas for outbreak experts to fly to Guinea and were compromising Ebola containment ef- forts. Lee said WHO head- quarters in Geneva should have jumped in sooner to seize control of Ebola from its Africa office, but that agency politics likely complicated that. "There were enough voices raising the alarm outside of WHO to suggest that something excep- tional was going on," she said. "Serious questions need to be asked within WHO Geneva about why these other sources were ignored for so long." In a speech at the Be- nin meeting on Monday, WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan stayed away from any critical remarks and instead thanked Sambo for his "years of dedica- tion to WHO and to the health of the African peo- ple." Some experts doubted that whoever is elected as new WHO Africa head would do much to change the stagnant culture there. "There is no appetite for reform among senior WHO leaders," said Dr. Donald A. Henderson, who headed the agency's small- pox eradication efforts. He called the WHO Africa of- fice "completely out of touch" and said it was so bereft of competent people when Ebola in Guinea was identified in March that "there was no one left to raise the alarm." Others said the fumbled response to the Ebola epi- demic has further under- mined WHO's credibility. A erbotching Ebola, WHO to pick new Africa boss DISEASE Associated Press WYANDOTTE, MICH. A De- troit-area couple who met in a support group for weight loss surgery pa- tients exchanged wedding vows after losing a collec- tive 380 pounds. Crysta Danaher, 34, of Windsor, Ontario, and Bill Anderson, 44, of Allen Park, were married Sat- urday at Henry Ford Wy- andotte Hospital, where they had bariatric surgery and later met, the Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep. com/1GdnjeH ) reported. Anderson has gone from 459 pounds to about 250 pounds since his May 2009 operation. Danaher has lost about 180 pounds since her 2009 procedure. "We were friends first," Danaher said. "My mom knew him first and always said 'I wish you'd meet a guy like Bill.' He grew on me. I guess I grew on him, too." Anderson said the sur- gery and support group have "changed everything" about his life. He has run two full marathons and more than a dozen half- marathons. The two were married by their yoga instructor in the room where they met. The Saturday ceremony marked exactly three years since their first date. The Andersons were sur- rounded by about 100 fam- ily members and friends as they said their vows in brightly colored sneakers. They will spend their hon- eymoon in Cancun, where they admit they might cheat a little on their strict diets. "We're probably both go- ing to be hurting on the honeymoon because we'll try things we shouldn't," Danaher said. WEIGHT LOSS Mi ch ig an c ou pl e ma rr y a er losing 380 pounds TANYA MOUTZALIAS — DETROIT FREE PRESS Bride Crysta Danaher and groom William Anderson say "I Do" at the Wyandotte Henry Ford Hospital where they got married, in Wyandotte, Mich. on Saturday. The Andersons met at the hospital 3years before during a pre-bariatric counseling. They lost over 200 pounds together. The couple decided to get married in the same room they met inside the Wyandotte Henry Ford Hospital. California Healthline Associated Press Young, invincible, not particularly wealthy college students are prime candi- dates for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Many qualify for gov- ernment subsidies or Med- icaid, and most are healthy, representing a vitally impor- tant portion of the insurance pool. Without them, the cli- entele covered by state and federal exchanges would be older, less healthy and more expensive. A recruiting project at the California State Univer- sity system -- billed as the nation's largest and possibly most diverse college system — has shown promising re- sults and could be used as a model for other university systems, according to orga- nizers. "The main goal is to help students and their families get coverage and I think we're succeeding," said Wal- ter Zelman, director of the CSU Health Insurance Edu- cation Project and chair of CSU-Los Angeles' Depart- ment of Public Health. "But one of my hopes in doing this is to serve as a model. I'm hopeful that other university systems can recognize the potential and do something similar," Zel- man said. Good Statistics in Proj- ect's Freshman Year Funded with a grant from Covered California, the proj- ect's goal was to get coverage for as many of the 450,000 students at the system's 23 campuses as possible. Us- ing a peer-to-peer classroom process at the largest 15 cam- puses, student coordinators made more than 1,500 class- room presentations, orga- nized more than 60 forums and staged some 300 enroll- ment events. The project was timed in conjunction with Covered California's first open enrollment period. Before the project, the number of uninsured stu- dents on the 15 targeted campusesrangedfromabout 25% to 30%. The average es- timatenow is about10%.The percentage of uninsured La- tino students -- estimated at more than 40% before the project — dropped to 13%. The CSU system was a good place to launch such an effort, Zelman said. "If there is a population that's ripe for coverage un- der the Affordable Care Act and for state and federal ex- changes, this is it," Zelman said. "Young people, many low income, intelligent, computer savvy. The vast majority of students want to have coverage and when they find it is affordable with subsidies, they sign up," Zel- man said. Zelman said the state col- lege system, which serves more low-income and mi- nority students than the University of California sys- tem, was fertile recruiting ground. HEALTH INSURANCE Coverage recruiting project showing results at California colleges Associated Press SACRAMENTO A partner- shipbetweentheAssociation of California Water Agen- cies (ACWA) and the Cali- fornia Department of Wa- ter Resources (DWR) – has launched a fall education campaign to alert the public about water conservation ef- forts throughout the upcom- ing, and likely dry, fall and winter seasons. To help guide Californians into the cooler, fall months of California, Save Our Water is offering tips and ideas on its website, www.saveourh2o. org, on how to conserve wa- ter all season long includ- ing: changing your sprinkler schedule, investing in a rain barrel for water collection, redirecting rainspouts to capture water and more. The site also features in-depth in- formation on how to keep es- tablished trees alive during drought, with special focus paid to helping trees transi- tion from a dry summer to fall and winter. Tips, news and resources will also be featured on Save Our Water's social media channels utiliz- ing the new hashtag #every- dropcounts. "It's imperative for Cali- fornians to understand that even though we have started to see some rain this fall doesn't mean the drought is anywhere near over," said Mark Cowin, Director of Cal- ifornia Department of Water Resources. "Water conserva- tion should be a daily, year- round habit for all of us re- gardless of a current dry or wet season." Residents are also en- couraged to "Change Your Clock, Check Your Sprin- kler" with Daylight Savings Time ending this past week- end.Changingsprinklertim- ers, remembering to turn off sprinklers when it is rain- ing and/or investing in a weather-based sprinkler sys- temswill helptoconserve. In the fall and winter seasons many localities cut back the allotted number of days they can water – residents can check with their local water agency on additional water- ing restrictions. "Water Year 2014 ended as one of the driest ever and there is no reason to believe this year will be any better," said Tim Quinn, Executive Director of ACWA. CONSERVATION Ca li fo rn ia ns u rg ed t o ch ec k cl oc ks , sp ri nk le rs www.lassenmedical.com lassenmedical.com 2450 Sister Mary Columba Drive Red Bluff, CA 96080 530 527-0414 Lassen Medical For the Expected, Unexpected and Everything in Between 100JacksonStreet, Red Bluff (530) 529-1220 NEW Membership Specials CallorComeIn for details HEALTH » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, November 4, 2014 MORE ATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4