Unable to ignore the Ebola crisis in neighbouring Sierra Leone, Ghana-based remittances service Beam has launched a donations hub to raise funds for charities fighting the outbreak.
Launched on Monday, Bitcoin Against Ebola is a non-profit initiative that aims to reduce the percentage of charitable donations lost to fees in fiat currency money transfers.
The website will effectively act as a conduit for people in other parts of the world to send donations via bitcoin to two registered NGOs working in Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Liberty Group and LunchBoxGift. It is also possible to remit money to family or friends affected by the crisis.
Beam's CEO Nikunj Handa told CoinDesk:
"We just couldn’t stand the fact that over 15% of the money [people] were sending to Sierra Leone to help their country was being spent on transaction fees."
Minimising transaction fees
Sending money to the charity of your choice is a simple affair. After registering on the Bitcoin Against Ebola website and entering basic ID details, a payments page allows the user to select from Beam's supported charities or choose another by entering its name and Africell, Airtel or Comium telephone number.Then it is merely matter of specifying the amount to send and scanning a QR code into your bitcoin wallet. Transactions are listed in your account immediately after sending and an email notification will be sent when the donation has arrived with the charity.
To get the funds to people on the ground, Beam has partnered with Splash Mobile Money, Sierra Leone’s largest mobile money provider. Nikunj said transaction fees cost just 2% – half going to Beam, half to Splash.
"This is necessary to cover certain operational costs," Nikunj said. "The recipients do not have to pay any extra money to cash out the money. 2% is the entire cost of getting cash to Sierra Leone ... Our exchange rate and lack of fixed fee is simply unbeatable."
Donations can be as low as $1, and the charities receive the funds in minutes, according to the CEO, who stressed:
"This is a non-profit initiative and we do not make any money out of this."
Fighting the virus
While Ebola has not yet reached Ghana, the neighbouring countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have suffered greatly from the deadly virus. Official estimates say almost 5,000 people have died, but the actual count is suspected to be much higher."Entire villages have been wiped out by the disease," said Nikunj.
While the international effort to contain the outbreak and help those in afflicted regions is growing, the UN has said it still does not have the resources to contain the disease.
The charities supported by Beam are working on a much smaller scale than major organisations. However, Nikunj indicated that after interacting with NGOs in Sierra Leone, he found that small efforts in education and provision of supplies can also make a big difference.
He explained:
"There is a lack of awareness on how the disease is spread. Some people even believe that the disease is 'fake' and this is a plot by the government against them. Due to this, there is a need for people on the ground in these countries educate the public on Ebola and how it can be prevented."One of Beam's featured charities, Sierra Leone Liberty Group, has been combatting this ignorance by promoting effective hygiene amongst local populations. Since the disease is highly contagious and easily transmitted through contact with body fluids like sweat and saliva, SLLG has also been discouraging people from shaking hands and sharing food.
Providing essential resources
Another issue for those fighting the disease or living in hard-hit areas is that food and medicines have to be delivered to patients and healthcare workers.Making the issue even more complex, governments often quarantine affected homes and sometimes issue lockdowns of entire cities for days to prevent the spread of Ebola.
Under these restrictions, it is extremely difficult for people to gain access to food and other supplies, and NGOs play a critical role in providing essential resources before a lockdown begins.
Beam's second supported charity, LunchBoxGift provides freshly cooked lunches to these people, with each meal costing just £1 ($1.60).
LunchBoxGift is aiming to provide 50,000 hot meals to hospitalised patients and frontline healthcare workers in Ebola treatment centres over the next three months. This, the charity says, is particularly necessary because the isolation of patients means that their families cannot get food to them in the usual way.
Ebola virus image via CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith/Wikipedia. Charity workers image via LunchBoxGift
The
Chairman of ECOWAS, President John Dramani Mahama, has bemoaned the
situation where families are rejecting children orphaned by the Ebola
virus disease in countries affected by the epidemic.
He said in Liberia, for example, where more than 2000 new orphans had
been recorded, families were rejecting the children while orphanages
had also declared them unwelcome because of the stigma attached to the
disease.
Addressing the opening session of a two-day extraordinary summit of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government on Ebola in Accra yesterday, President Mahama said adults who had survived the disease were also unable to return to their homes because of the fear of infecting others with the virus.
Mr Mahama said the picture was symptomatic of the havoc the disease was wreaking in the three most affected countries in West Africa.
The summit focused mainly on Ebola, but the West African leaders also discussed the political situation in Burkina Faso.
The World Health Organisation has reported for instance that cases of Ebola have reached 13,567 with more than 4,000 deaths.
But, the ECOWAS Chairman said, "we have become too familiar with these figures while very little emphasis is placed on the terrible pain and agony patients go through”.
He stated that tackling the pain and agony associated with the disease would provide strong grounds for the world to appreciate how crucial it was to assist the affected nations to deal with the epidemic.
"We must talk about Ebola not simply from the head but also from the heart," he added.
He said giving the fact that Ebola had not only crossed borders but even oceans to affect countries was a testimony to the fact that everyone was at risk.
The United States and Spain, which are advanced nations, have both recorded cases.
Mr Mahama expressed satisfaction about improvement in global response to the disease but indicated that more needed to be done.
He said in the discussion of Ebola, too much premium was placed on tangible items given out to victims.
He, however, said the effects of Ebola were far-reaching and that there were intangibles that also needed to be addressed.
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Desire Kadre Ouedraogo, gave an assurance that the commission would not relent until Ebola was defeated.
He urged West African countries that were yet to redeem their pledges to the ECOWAS Ebola Fund to do so without any further delay.
The United Nations Secretary General's special representative to West Africa, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who read a statement from his boss, Mr Ban Ki-moon, commended President Mahama for the tremendous work he was doing in the fight against Ebola.
Addressing the opening session of a two-day extraordinary summit of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government on Ebola in Accra yesterday, President Mahama said adults who had survived the disease were also unable to return to their homes because of the fear of infecting others with the virus.
Mr Mahama said the picture was symptomatic of the havoc the disease was wreaking in the three most affected countries in West Africa.
The summit focused mainly on Ebola, but the West African leaders also discussed the political situation in Burkina Faso.
Need for a shift
Although statistics were crucial in addressing situations such as the Ebola disease, Mr Mahama said, the time had come for a shift of emphasis to taking a critical look at the suffering that was written on the faces of victims.The World Health Organisation has reported for instance that cases of Ebola have reached 13,567 with more than 4,000 deaths.
But, the ECOWAS Chairman said, "we have become too familiar with these figures while very little emphasis is placed on the terrible pain and agony patients go through”.
He stated that tackling the pain and agony associated with the disease would provide strong grounds for the world to appreciate how crucial it was to assist the affected nations to deal with the epidemic.
"We must talk about Ebola not simply from the head but also from the heart," he added.
Pandemic breaks barriers
Pandemics, he said, were not peculiar to any specific country, explaining that "when it comes to the occurrence of a pandemic, every nation is vulnerable".He said giving the fact that Ebola had not only crossed borders but even oceans to affect countries was a testimony to the fact that everyone was at risk.
The United States and Spain, which are advanced nations, have both recorded cases.
Mr Mahama expressed satisfaction about improvement in global response to the disease but indicated that more needed to be done.
He said in the discussion of Ebola, too much premium was placed on tangible items given out to victims.
He, however, said the effects of Ebola were far-reaching and that there were intangibles that also needed to be addressed.
Crumbling economies
The ECOWAS Chairman stated that Ebola was threatening to destroy the economies of the three countries and warned of its ramifications on other West Africa countries, since the economies of the countries in the sub-region were connected.The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Desire Kadre Ouedraogo, gave an assurance that the commission would not relent until Ebola was defeated.
He urged West African countries that were yet to redeem their pledges to the ECOWAS Ebola Fund to do so without any further delay.
The United Nations Secretary General's special representative to West Africa, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who read a statement from his boss, Mr Ban Ki-moon, commended President Mahama for the tremendous work he was doing in the fight against Ebola.
The
Chairman of ECOWAS, President John Dramani Mahama, has bemoaned the
situation where families are rejecting children orphaned by the Ebola
virus disease in countries affected by the epidemic.
He said in Liberia, for example, where more than 2000 new orphans had
been recorded, families were rejecting the children while orphanages
had also declared them unwelcome because of the stigma attached to the
disease.
Addressing the opening session of a two-day extraordinary summit of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government on Ebola in Accra yesterday, President Mahama said adults who had survived the disease were also unable to return to their homes because of the fear of infecting others with the virus.
Mr Mahama said the picture was symptomatic of the havoc the disease was wreaking in the three most affected countries in West Africa.
The summit focused mainly on Ebola, but the West African leaders also discussed the political situation in Burkina Faso.
The World Health Organisation has reported for instance that cases of Ebola have reached 13,567 with more than 4,000 deaths.
But, the ECOWAS Chairman said, "we have become too familiar with these figures while very little emphasis is placed on the terrible pain and agony patients go through”.
He stated that tackling the pain and agony associated with the disease would provide strong grounds for the world to appreciate how crucial it was to assist the affected nations to deal with the epidemic.
"We must talk about Ebola not simply from the head but also from the heart," he added.
He said giving the fact that Ebola had not only crossed borders but even oceans to affect countries was a testimony to the fact that everyone was at risk.
The United States and Spain, which are advanced nations, have both recorded cases.
Mr Mahama expressed satisfaction about improvement in global response to the disease but indicated that more needed to be done.
He said in the discussion of Ebola, too much premium was placed on tangible items given out to victims.
He, however, said the effects of Ebola were far-reaching and that there were intangibles that also needed to be addressed.
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Desire Kadre Ouedraogo, gave an assurance that the commission would not relent until Ebola was defeated.
He urged West African countries that were yet to redeem their pledges to the ECOWAS Ebola Fund to do so without any further delay.
The United Nations Secretary General's special representative to West Africa, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who read a statement from his boss, Mr Ban Ki-moon, commended President Mahama for the tremendous work he was doing in the fight against Ebola.
Addressing the opening session of a two-day extraordinary summit of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government on Ebola in Accra yesterday, President Mahama said adults who had survived the disease were also unable to return to their homes because of the fear of infecting others with the virus.
Mr Mahama said the picture was symptomatic of the havoc the disease was wreaking in the three most affected countries in West Africa.
The summit focused mainly on Ebola, but the West African leaders also discussed the political situation in Burkina Faso.
Need for a shift
Although statistics were crucial in addressing situations such as the Ebola disease, Mr Mahama said, the time had come for a shift of emphasis to taking a critical look at the suffering that was written on the faces of victims.The World Health Organisation has reported for instance that cases of Ebola have reached 13,567 with more than 4,000 deaths.
But, the ECOWAS Chairman said, "we have become too familiar with these figures while very little emphasis is placed on the terrible pain and agony patients go through”.
He stated that tackling the pain and agony associated with the disease would provide strong grounds for the world to appreciate how crucial it was to assist the affected nations to deal with the epidemic.
"We must talk about Ebola not simply from the head but also from the heart," he added.
Pandemic breaks barriers
Pandemics, he said, were not peculiar to any specific country, explaining that "when it comes to the occurrence of a pandemic, every nation is vulnerable".He said giving the fact that Ebola had not only crossed borders but even oceans to affect countries was a testimony to the fact that everyone was at risk.
The United States and Spain, which are advanced nations, have both recorded cases.
Mr Mahama expressed satisfaction about improvement in global response to the disease but indicated that more needed to be done.
He said in the discussion of Ebola, too much premium was placed on tangible items given out to victims.
He, however, said the effects of Ebola were far-reaching and that there were intangibles that also needed to be addressed.
Crumbling economies
The ECOWAS Chairman stated that Ebola was threatening to destroy the economies of the three countries and warned of its ramifications on other West Africa countries, since the economies of the countries in the sub-region were connected.The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Desire Kadre Ouedraogo, gave an assurance that the commission would not relent until Ebola was defeated.
He urged West African countries that were yet to redeem their pledges to the ECOWAS Ebola Fund to do so without any further delay.
The United Nations Secretary General's special representative to West Africa, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who read a statement from his boss, Mr Ban Ki-moon, commended President Mahama for the tremendous work he was doing in the fight against Ebola.
The
World Health Organization has named Ghana among 15 countries it will
focus its attention on, to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola
disease.
This was after the European Union (EU) announced a review of its entry policies, and the disease was reported in the last untouched area of Sierra Leone.
The rest of the countries on the WHO’s list are Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR, DR Congo, Gambia,Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan and Togo.
In a statement, the WHO’s Global Director, Dr. Isabelle Nuttall said, “the objective is to stop the transmission from occurring in these countries. They may not have a case but after one case we don’t want more, these countries need to be better prepared.”
She added that, “this week we will cross 9,000 cases of Ebola and 4,500 deaths. The outbreak continues to hit health workers hard. So far 427 health care workers have been infected with Ebola and 236 - See more at: http://www.citifmonline.com/2014/10/17/ebola-ghana-named-in-who-priority-list/#sthash.UtPAnKNt.dpuf
This was after the European Union (EU) announced a review of its entry policies, and the disease was reported in the last untouched area of Sierra Leone.
The rest of the countries on the WHO’s list are Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR, DR Congo, Gambia,Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan and Togo.
In a statement, the WHO’s Global Director, Dr. Isabelle Nuttall said, “the objective is to stop the transmission from occurring in these countries. They may not have a case but after one case we don’t want more, these countries need to be better prepared.”
She added that, “this week we will cross 9,000 cases of Ebola and 4,500 deaths. The outbreak continues to hit health workers hard. So far 427 health care workers have been infected with Ebola and 236 - See more at: http://www.citifmonline.com/2014/10/17/ebola-ghana-named-in-who-priority-list/#sthash.UtPAnKNt.dpuf
The
World Health Organization has named Ghana among 15 countries it will
focus its attention on, to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola
disease.
This was after the European Union (EU) announced a review of its entry policies, and the disease was reported in the last untouched area of Sierra Leone.
The rest of the countries on the WHO’s list are Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR, DR Congo, Gambia,Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan and Togo.
In a statement, the WHO’s Global Director, Dr. Isabelle Nuttall said, “the objective is to stop the transmission from occurring in these countries. They may not have a case but after one case we don’t want more, these countries need to be better prepared.”
She
added that, “this week we will cross 9,000 cases of Ebola and 4,500
deaths. The outbreak continues to hit health workers hard. So far 427
health care workers have been infected with Ebola and 236 have died.”
Meanwhile Senegal and Nigeria are expected to be declared Ebola-free within a few days, despite having had the disease there.
Most of the affected countries have been struggling to contain the virus, but these two countries [Nigeria and Senegal] have done so successfully.
The EU also announced that it was reviewing its screening controls for airline passengers leaving West Africa.
After an emergency meeting of EU health ministers, EU health chief Tonio Borg said the WHO and the EU would look into “conflicting reports” about whether the screening in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea was good enough.
- See more at: http://www.citifmonline.com/2014/10/17/ebola-ghana-named-in-who-priority-list/#sthash.UtPAnKNt.dpuf
This was after the European Union (EU) announced a review of its entry policies, and the disease was reported in the last untouched area of Sierra Leone.
The rest of the countries on the WHO’s list are Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR, DR Congo, Gambia,Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan and Togo.
In a statement, the WHO’s Global Director, Dr. Isabelle Nuttall said, “the objective is to stop the transmission from occurring in these countries. They may not have a case but after one case we don’t want more, these countries need to be better prepared.”
Most of the affected countries have been struggling to contain the virus, but these two countries [Nigeria and Senegal] have done so successfully.
The EU also announced that it was reviewing its screening controls for airline passengers leaving West Africa.
After an emergency meeting of EU health ministers, EU health chief Tonio Borg said the WHO and the EU would look into “conflicting reports” about whether the screening in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea was good enough.
A research conducted by the Northeastern University, USA, earlier said Ghana tops the list of countries at risk of recording an Ebola outbreak by October 31.
It said countries with the largest probability of seeing the arrival
of the Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) cases before the end of October 2014,
are Ghana, United States, France, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire.
The report was compiled before Senegal, Nigeria and the United States of America (USA) recorded any case and was published on October 6, 2014.
A similar report by the Oxford University in United Kingdom also predicted that Ghana and the 14 other countries in Africa are at risk of animal-to-human transmission of Ebola by virtue of their geography.
-
By: Nana Boakye-Yiadom/citifmonline.com/GhanaThe report was compiled before Senegal, Nigeria and the United States of America (USA) recorded any case and was published on October 6, 2014.
A similar report by the Oxford University in United Kingdom also predicted that Ghana and the 14 other countries in Africa are at risk of animal-to-human transmission of Ebola by virtue of their geography.
-
- See more at: http://www.citifmonline.com/2014/10/17/ebola-ghana-named-in-who-priority-list/#sthash.UtPAnKNt.dpuf
The
World Health Organization has named Ghana among 15 countries it will
focus its attention on, to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola
disease.
This was after the European Union (EU) announced a review of its entry policies, and the disease was reported in the last untouched area of Sierra Leone.
The rest of the countries on the WHO’s list are Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR, DR Congo, Gambia,Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan and Togo.
In a statement, the WHO’s Global Director, Dr. Isabelle Nuttall said, “the objective is to stop the transmission from occurring in these countries. They may not have a case but after one case we don’t want more, these countries need to be better prepared.”
She
added that, “this week we will cross 9,000 cases of Ebola and 4,500
deaths. The outbreak continues to hit health workers hard. So far 427
health care workers have been infected with Ebola and 236 have died.”
Meanwhile Senegal and Nigeria are expected to be declared Ebola-free within a few days, despite having had the disease there.
Most of the affected countries have been struggling to contain the virus, but these two countries [Nigeria and Senegal] have done so successfully.
The EU also announced that it was reviewing its screening controls for airline passengers leaving West Africa.
After an emergency meeting of EU health ministers, EU health chief Tonio Borg said the WHO and the EU would look into “conflicting reports” about whether the screening in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea was good enough.
- See more at: http://www.citifmonline.com/2014/10/17/ebola-ghana-named-in-who-priority-list/#sthash.UtPAnKNt.dpuf
This was after the European Union (EU) announced a review of its entry policies, and the disease was reported in the last untouched area of Sierra Leone.
The rest of the countries on the WHO’s list are Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR, DR Congo, Gambia,Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan and Togo.
In a statement, the WHO’s Global Director, Dr. Isabelle Nuttall said, “the objective is to stop the transmission from occurring in these countries. They may not have a case but after one case we don’t want more, these countries need to be better prepared.”
Most of the affected countries have been struggling to contain the virus, but these two countries [Nigeria and Senegal] have done so successfully.
The EU also announced that it was reviewing its screening controls for airline passengers leaving West Africa.
After an emergency meeting of EU health ministers, EU health chief Tonio Borg said the WHO and the EU would look into “conflicting reports” about whether the screening in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea was good enough.
A research conducted by the Northeastern University, USA, earlier said Ghana tops the list of countries at risk of recording an Ebola outbreak by October 31.
It said countries with the largest probability of seeing the arrival
of the Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) cases before the end of October 2014,
are Ghana, United States, France, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire.
The report was compiled before Senegal, Nigeria and the United States of America (USA) recorded any case and was published on October 6, 2014.
A similar report by the Oxford University in United Kingdom also predicted that Ghana and the 14 other countries in Africa are at risk of animal-to-human transmission of Ebola by virtue of their geography.
-
By: Nana Boakye-Yiadom/citifmonline.com/GhanaThe report was compiled before Senegal, Nigeria and the United States of America (USA) recorded any case and was published on October 6, 2014.
A similar report by the Oxford University in United Kingdom also predicted that Ghana and the 14 other countries in Africa are at risk of animal-to-human transmission of Ebola by virtue of their geography.
-
- See more at: http://www.citifmonline.com/2014/10/17/ebola-ghana-named-in-who-priority-list/#sthash.UtPAnKNt.dpuf
No comments:
Post a Comment