As the Ebola outbreak grows and spreads, a small but significant group of people is also growing - the Ebola survivors. Emerging shell-shocked from what one described as a "glimpse of hell", the survivors have not found life easy on the other side of the Ebola ward.

Some in the community brand them as "witches" for surviving. For many, the faces they longed to see again while lying in the Ebola ward are no longer there. Husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers have all been carried off to unmarked graves by Ebola virus disease.

On Friday the 31st of October 2014, the Minister of Public Health, Mr. André Mama Fouda presided over the official launching ceremony of the 9th round of the National Immunization Days against Poliomyelitis coupled with the Second Mother and Child Health Nutrition Action Week in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Present at this very important ceremony was a delegation of members from the Global Poliomyelitis Eradication Initiative at the head of which was His Excellency Ambassador John E Lange of the UN Foundation.

31 October 2014 – Monrovia, Liberia. Today a new Ebola treatment unit opens at the former Ministry of Defence compound, on the outskirts of Monrovia. This new unit adds another 200 beds to the almost 500 currently available for Ebola patients in the Liberian capital, which remains the epicentre of the outbreak.

Addis Ababa. 24 October 2014 – The World Polio Day was commemorated today with the theme "End Polio Now!" in an event organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and Rotary International at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) premises, as a symbol of the UN and Rotary International standing together in the fight against polio. The Day was also for the first time celebrated alongside UN Day.

Addis Ababa. 24 October. The Government of Ethiopia will deploy 200 volunteer health professionals to Ebola affected countries in West Africa along with USD 500,000 of financial support. Ethiopia’s support to West Africa will focus on strengthening case management, surveillance and organization of community care.

Juba, South Sudan. 25 October 2014. - To commemorate UN day and in service to the community, WHO joined other UN agencies to provide integrated health services to the community in Kapuri, Juba, Central Equatoria State.  Although UN day falls on 24 October, WHO employees, alongside the rest of the UN family, contributed their time and expertise on Saturday 25 October to “serve the community we work in.”

This was in line with the local theme chosen by UN agencies working in South Sudan for this year’s UN Day: ‘UN! With the people, for the people.’

24 October 2014 -- WHO convened a high-level emergency meeting on 23 October to look at the many complex policy issues that surround access to Ebola vaccines.

Tororo, 22nd October 2014:- Uganda commemorated the Safe Motherhood Day with a series of activities under the theme, ‘Mobilizing men as Partners and champions in prevention of teenage pregnancy’. The national commemoration was held in Tororo district and presided over by the First Lady of Uganda and Minister of Karamoja, Hon. Janet Kataha Museveni.

Addis Ababa. 19 October – A campaign to vaccinate 27 million Ethiopians against Meningococcal Meningitis A was launched today in target regions of the country. This second phase preventive campaign is targeting people aged between one and 29 years in 39 zones of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), Oromia and Addis Ababa.

Addis Ababa. 20 October 2014 – H.E. Dr Mulatu Teshome, the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia granted an audience to Dr Pierre M’pele-Kilebou, the World Health Organization Representative to Ethiopia. 

Dr M’pele was accompanied by Dr Fiona Braka, Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Cluster Coordinator, Dr Abebayehu Mengistu, Disease Prevention and Control Cluster Coordinator, Mr Pierre Lessimi, Management Cluster Coordinator and Mrs Loza Mesfin, Communication, Advocacy and Media Program Officer.