Health

More Children at Risk of Measles in Wake of Ebola Epidemic

Published

8 years ago

March 13, 2015

In this Monday, Jan. 19, 2015 file photo, a health care worker, right, takes the temperatures of school children for signs of the Ebola virus before they enter their school in the city of Conakry, Guinea. (AP Photo/Youssouf Bah, File)

LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ebola’s toll moved beyond 10,000 deaths Thursday even as researchers warned of yet another threat to hard-hit West Africa: On the heels of the unprecedented devastation, large outbreaks of measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases could move into the region.

Ebola derailed child immunizations in the three countries hardest hit by Ebola — Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, leaving hundreds of thousands more children vulnerable to the more routine infections, researchers said Thursday. Already, worrisome clusters of measles cases are cropping up.

The new study warns that it’s crucial to restart the shots quickly, citing math models that estimate thousands could die if a large enough measles outbreak were to strike before the battered health care system has a chance to recover.

Measles epidemics often follow humanitarian crises because “measles is so incredibly contagious,” explained Johns Hopkins University epidemiologist Justin Lessler, who led the study published in the journal Science.

“Measles is not the only health threat that has been made worse by the Ebola crisis, and may not even be the most dire, but it is one we can do something about,” he added.

The Ebola death milestone announced by the World Health Organization on Thursday had been expected for weeks, even though overall the epidemic is waning. Liberia has begun the 42-day countdown toward being declared Ebola-free if no new cases arise. Guinea and Sierra Leone still are struggling to end new infections, although cases aren’t nearly as high as in the fall.

A side effect of hospitals closed in the outbreak zone, and a population frightened of what health care remained, is that unnecessary deaths occurred from malaria, childbirth and other common conditions.

Now the question is whether measles and other vaccine-preventable childhood diseases will be the next post-Ebola problem.

In Guinea, UNICEF has reports of 339 suspected measles cases, 27 of them confirmed, agency spokesman Patrick Moser said in New York.

Doctors Without Borders said it has reports of 182 suspected measles cases in Liberia, plus some suspected cases in Sierra Leone, too.

Health services are slowly resuming in areas where Ebola’s grip has lessened. In Liberia, routine childhood vaccinations are being given in health facilities again, said Tolbert Nyenswah, an assistant health minister.

In addition, UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders are working with Liberian officials for a measles and polio vaccination campaign in May that will target more than 600,000 children under age 5, Moser said. Similar campaigns also are planned for Sierra Leone, depending on the continuing Ebola situation.

Measles remains a leading killer of children in developing countries, and it’s far more contagious than Ebola. There have been some huge epidemics when vaccinations were disrupted. Hopkins’ Lessler noted that between 2010 and 2013, about 294,000 cases of measles spread through the Congo, with more than 5,000 deaths, after a period of political instability.

His team set out to model what might happen if a large measles outbreak spread across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

At the start of the Ebola crisis there already were about 778,000 unvaccinated children ages 9 months to 5 years in the three countries, the study estimated. For every month that Ebola disrupted regular health care, an extra 20,000 children became susceptible to measles, the researchers calculated.

In a worst-case regional outbreak, about 127,000 people would have gotten sick before Ebola but, after 18 months of vaccine disruption, an additional 100,000 illnesses could be expected, the researchers calculated. Anywhere from 2,000 to 16,000 more deaths could occur.

That estimate assumed that vaccinations dropped by 75 percent during the Ebola crisis, and Lessler said recent information suggests the decreases weren’t that severe. Even if vaccinations dropped by just 25 percent, Lessler said that still could mean tens of thousands more illnesses and anywhere from 500 to 4,000 additional deaths than before the recent Ebola outbreak.

Models are just that, and there’s no way to know if the region really is poised for a post-Ebola measles outbreak. But health groups say it’s urgent to restart vaccinations.

“There is a threat,” Dr. Estrella Lasry of Doctors Without Borders said in a phone interview from Liberia.

Health workers will have to make sure parents understand the need for resuming routine childhood immunizations, and the difference from studies of experimental Ebola vaccines that are being conducted in the region.

“There’s a need to rebuild trust in the health system,” she said.

___

Associated Press writers Maria Cheng in Geneva and Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia, contributed to this report.

Related Topics:Ebola Ebola outbreak measles

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Activism

Rise in Abductions of Black Girls in Oakland Alarms Sex-Trafficking Survivors

Nola Brantley of Nola Brantley Speaks states, “America’s wider culture and society has consistently failed to address the abduction and kidnapping of Black girls in Oakland and across the country, and this lack of concern empowers and emboldens predators.”

Published

1 week ago

May 20, 2023

Oakland Post

Nola Brantley and Sarai Smith-Mazariegos

By Tanya Dennis

Within the last 30 days there have been seven attempted kidnappings or successful abductions of Black girls in Oakland.

Survivors of human trafficking who are now advocates are not surprised.

Nor were they surprised that the police didn’t respond, and parents of victims turned to African American community-based organizations like Adamika Village and Love Never Fails for help.

Advocates say Black and Brown girls disappear daily, usually without a blip on the screen for society and government officials.

Perhaps that will change with a proposed law by state Senator Steven Bradford’s Senate Bill 673 Ebony Alert, that, if passed, will alert people when Black people under the age of 26 go missing.

According to the bill, Black children are disproportionately classified as “runaways” in comparison to their white counterparts which means fewer resources are dedicated to finding them.

Brantley, a survivor of human trafficking has been doing the work to support child sex trafficking victims for over 20 years, first as the director for the Scotlan Youth and Family Center’s Parenting and Youth Enrichment Department at Oakland’s DeFremery Park, and as one of the co-founders and executive director of Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth (MISSSEY, Inc.)

“It really hit home in 2010,” said Brantley, “before California’s Welfare Institution Code 300 was amended to include children victimized by sex trafficking.”

Before that law was amended, she had to vehemently advocate for Black and Brown girls under the age of 18 to be treated as victims rather than criminalized.

Brantley served hundreds of Black and Brown girls citing these girls were victims so they would be treated as such and offered restorative services. “To get the police to take their disappearances seriously and file a report almost never happened,” she said.

Then Brantley received a call from the Board of Supervisors regarding a “special case.” A councilman was at the meeting, as well as a member of former Alameda County Board Supervisor Scott Haggerty’s Office who had called Brantley to attend.

“The child’s parents and the child were there also. They requested that I give my full attention to this case. The girl was white and there was no question of her victimization,” Brantley said.

Brantley felt conflicted that of all the hundreds of Black and Brown girls she’d served, none had ever received this type of treatment.

Her eyes were opened that day on how “they” move, therefore with the recent escalation of kidnapping attempts of Black girls, Brantley fears that because it’s happening to Black girls the response will not be taken seriously.

Councilwoman Treva Reid

“I thank Councilwoman Treva Reid and Senator Steven Bradford (D) for pushing for the passing of the Ebony Alert Bill across the state so that the disappearance of Black girls will be elevated the same as white girls. We’ve never had a time when Black girls weren’t missing. Before, it didn’t matter if we reported it or if the parents reported the police failed to care.”

Senator Steven Bradford

Sarai S-Mazariegos, co-founder of M.I.S.S.S.E.Y, and founder and executive director of Survivors Healing, Advising and Dedicated to Empowerment (S.H.A.D.E.) agrees with Brantley.

“What we are experiencing is the effects of COVID-19, poverty and a regressive law that has sentence the most vulnerable to the sex trade,” S-Mazariegos said. “We are seeing the lack of equity in the community, the cause and consequence of gender inequality and a violation of our basic human rights. What we are seeing is sexual exploitation at its finest.”

Both advocates are encouraged by Bradford’s Ebony Alert.

The racism and inequity cited has resulted in the development of an underground support system by Brantley, S-Mazariegos and other community-based organizations who have united to demand change.

Thus far they are receiving support from Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, and Oakland City Councilmembers Nikki Fortunato Bas and Reid of the second and seventh districts respectively.

For more information, go to http://www.blackandmissinginc.com

Activism

The Case Against SB357: Black, Vulnerable and Trafficked

on April 25, the committee approved Senate Bill 14 which would make human trafficking of minors a felony and strikable offense forcing exploiters to serve 80% of their sentence.

Published

1 week ago

May 20, 2023

Oakland Post

Nola Brantley is the co-founder of MISSSEY. Photo courtesy of Nola Brantley.

PART 8 – Come Back to Humanity

Although California Senate Bill 357 was intended to alleviate arrests of willing sex workers under anti-loitering laws, The Black, Vulnerable and Exploited series has established that passing SB 357 and other similar legislation harms Black communities, one of the most vulnerable and traumatized groups in America.

Over the past several weeks, overwhelming evidence against SB 357 has been presented showing why sex trafficking disproportionately impacts the Black community and how decriminalizing sex buying and exploitation will further harm vulnerable Black communities.

By Tanya Dennis and Vanessa Russell

One year and one day after Blair Williams had killed herself by walking into traffic on a busy freeway, her sister, Brianna Williams, testified before the California Senate Public Safety Committee on the horrors of sex-trafficking.

Soon after, on April 25, the committee approved Senate Bill 14 which would make human trafficking of minors a felony and strikable offense forcing exploiters to serve 80% of their sentence.

Passed with bi-partisan support in the committee, the bill means a lot to people who have been trafficked as it shows that the punishment for trafficking will be equal to the crime.

Currently, exploiters who receive 10 years for trafficking a minor may be able to get out in as little as two years. This practice of letting someone out after selling a child has created apathy among survivors who wonder if anyone understands the pain and torture they endure. The unanimous acceptance of this bill in committee is helping survivors to feel protected and valuable.

Led by Senator Aisha Wahab, the committee, which included senators Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, Steven Bradford, Senator Scott D. Wiener and Oakland’s Nancy Skinner, unanimously passed the bill written by Senator Shannon Grove.

At the hearing, Brianna Williams, a Black 28-year-old woman who was sex-trafficked in Oakland at the age of 13, shared the story of her sister Blair, who was terrorized, raped, and tortured by her exploiter.

Suffering a mental break, Blair walked onto a freeway where she was instantly killed on April 24, 2022.

Williams described Blair as a beautiful young lady, who was an avid reader and creative who loved to play with her niece and nephews and aspired to be an attorney. Blair died at the age of 23. Many senators teared up as they contemplated the torture Blair endured.

At the age of 17, Williams was able to exit with the help of nonprofits and churches who invested in her life, providing workforce development, education, mentoring, and legal help.

To address the harm that is being done to vulnerable people such as Black girls, anti-trafficking organizations are asking leaders and legislators and even proponents of full decriminalization for sex work to ‘come back to humanity’ and reconsider an ‘equity model’ that decriminalizes the exploited but maintains accountability for the buyers and exploiters.

The equity model would also provide funded exit services including mental health, housing, workforce development, and legal services for the exploited. These services would provide an opportunity for the trafficked to start again, an opportunity that 76% of women, men and transgendered people are asking for.

However, making buyers and exploiters accountable does not mean applying blanket life sentences.

Human trafficking cannot be ‘criminalized’ away, supporters of the new bill say, and instead they call for thoughtfulness and empathy regarding the intentions of those involved and ask tough questions.

Many exploiters have been abused and groomed into becoming exploiters in the same way the exploited are.

There are early intervention diversion programs that can help first-time sex buyers and exploiters take ownership for the harm they have caused, process the root of their behavior, and begin to heal and change.

Giving buyers and exploiters a platform to be accountable and make amends improves their lives, the lives of the families they are also harming, and hopefully bring some healing to the harmed.

Nola Brantley, a survivor, co-founder of Motivating, Inspiring Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth (MISSSEY), and CEO of Nola Brantley Speaks says, “As service providers, we must unite and support one another because this is very important and hard. We can’t do it alone. We need each other and the community needs us to be in solidarity!”

For more information, go to ResearchGate and Layout 1 (depaul.edu)

To get involved, join Violence Prevention Coalition for a City Wide Peace Summit on June 24^th from 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. at Laney College in Oakland. To register, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/city-wide-peace-summit-tickets-622795647547

Tanya Dennis serves on the Board of Oakland Frontline Healers (OFH) and series co-author Vanessa Russell of “Love Never Fails Us” and member of OFH.

Bay Area

Mayor Breed’s Statement on the Partnership With the State to Disrupt Fentanyl Trafficking

Today Mayor London N. Breed released the following statement about Governor Newsom’s commitment to support addressing fentanyl trafficking in San Francisco.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 12, 2023

Oakland Post

80% of the overdose deaths so far this year in San Francisco are fentanyl-related, which is why San Francisco has prioritized enforcement of fentanyl dealers, particularly in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.

San Francisco — Today Mayor London N. Breed released the following statement about Governor Newsom’s commitment to support addressing fentanyl trafficking in San Francisco. The Governor released more details about the partnership between California Highway Patrol, Cal Guard, the San Francisco Police Department and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, which can be read here.

“We are taking aggressive steps to address the fentanyl crisis with both services for those struggling with addiction as well as enforcement to break up open-air drug dealing and hold those who are threatening lives accountable. Our Police Officers have been making arrests and our District Attorney has been aggressive in prosecuting cases against drug dealers who are selling a drug that is driving fatal overdoses in our City. Our local enforcement agencies are committed to this work and we will continue to be aggressive in disrupting the open-air drug markets in our City.

This partnership with the State law enforcement agencies will help us to continue that work and expand our efforts. I want to thank Governor Newsom for his commitment to San Francisco and for listening to our residents, workers, and businesses that have been calling for more support. San Francisco welcomes this support for more enforcement.”

San Francisco’s Work to Address the Fentanyl Crisis

Since January, SFPD has made more than 300 arrests for possession with intent to sell in the Tenderloin and South of Market areas.
The amount of fentanyl seized in the first quarter of 2023 increased by over 150% year over year in 2022.
Compared to the same period in 2021, the City has seen an increase of the amount of fentanyl seized by over 450% this year so far.
The District Attorney’s Office has prioritized the prosecution of high-level dealers and is working closely with SFPD to file narcotics sales cases.
Between July 2022 and April 2023, the District Attorney’s Office filed 638 felony narcotics sales cases, which is a 90% filing rate.
517 individuals were arraigned between July 8, 2022 and April 20, 2023 for felony narcotics, representing an 80% increase compared to the same time period by the previous administration.

The work between SFPD and the DA’s office has been essential at ensuring accountability. For example, on Tuesday, police seized 5 kilos of fentanyl as part of a single arrest, enough to save nearly 2.5 million lives. Today, the District Attorney announced multiple felony charges against that individual.

San Francisco also continues to prioritize treatment and services for those struggling with addiction. This includes the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s (SFDPH) work to implement the City’s Overdose Prevention Plan, a four-part strategy to bring down overdoses, by expanding access to substance use treatment and services, doubling the distribution of naloxone in the next three years, increasing social support for people at risk of overdose, and improving the conditions in communities where drug use occurs. Examples of this work include:

Over the past two years, SFDPH has opened almost 350 residential care and treatment beds, in addition to the existing 2,200 beds.
This includes the recent opening of a 70-bed residential step-down facility in Treasure Island for people transitioning out of treatment programs.
SFDPH has also been widely increasing access to medications for opioid use disorder, namely buprenorphine and methadone.

Mayor Breed’s press conference livestream may be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1CI_hDkmpY