Globe Trot: Ebola death toll tops 4,000

EBOLA’S VICTIMS: Thousands of Ebola victims continue to die in West Africa, and the CDC warns the virus could infect as many as 1.4 million people in Liberia and Sierra Leone by the end of January if the disease isn’t contained. The World Health Organization announced today the death toll has topped 4,000.

At a World Bank conference on Thursday, Tom Frieden of the CDC compared the Ebola outbreak to the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s: “In my 30 years in public health, the only thing that has been like this is AIDS. … We have to work now so that this is not the world’s next AIDS.”

Sobering stats show the group most vulnerable to the virus: More than half of all Ebola victims in West Africa have been adult women. That’s largely because of the many ways African women serve as constant caregivers—from bearing children to caring for the sick and dying to preparing the dead for burial. UNICEF estimates at least 3,700 children in West Africa have lost one or both parents since the Ebola outbreak began.

One of the Christian organizations serving vulnerable women in West Africa is Women of Hope International. The U.S.-based group focuses on ministry to women with disabilities in Sierra Leone, and has developed a campaign to provide on-the-ground education and relief for those vulnerable to Ebola or suffering from the disease. The group has also developed a 21-day prayer calendar to pray for those facing or combating Ebola. The first day of the prayer effort starts tomorrow, and the calendar offers specific, focused ways to pray for the needy region.

For an idea of what it’s like to live in the shadow of Ebola, the Boston Globe offers a series of compelling photos that may offer fuel for the prayers of Christians committed to praying for the suffering.

BATTLING EBOLA: The first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. has died. Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian who had traveled to America to visit family, died on Wednesday—10 days after doctors admitted him to a Dallas hospital.

Duncan developed symptoms of Ebola after he arrived in the United States in September. Other Ebola victims—including American medical missionaries Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol—were transported here after being diagnosed in Liberia.

Both missionaries survived after receiving doses of the experimental drug Zmapp. Frieden said drug manufacturers are working to produce more doses of the “promising, but unproven treatment,” but added the process is lengthy, and current supplies are gone: “There is, as far as we understand, no more of it in the world.”

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE: This morning, officials awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to a Muslim and a Hindu from rival nations. Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai became an internationally known advocate for girls in oppressive countries after the Taliban shot her in the head in 2012 for advocating for girls’ right to education. She becomes the youngest recipient of the prize. The committee also honored Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi. The awards ceremony takes place Dec. 10.