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DOCTORS HAVE SAID they are doing everything they can to help stem a deadly Ebola virus outbreak in Guinea, but traditions are hampering the response.
The emergency coordinator of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Marie-Christine Ferir, said in an interview her organisation was using a three-tiered approach to “halt as quickly as possible” west Africa’s first-ever haemorrhagic fever outbreak, which has already claimed 61 lives.
However, Ferir warned the spread of the disease to neighbouring Liberia was linked to local traditions in which people travel great distances to attend a funeral and mourners touch the deceased person’s body.
“It requires special precautions to be taken, while respecting local customs,” Ferir told AFP, adding that the Ebola cases in Liberia were a result of mourners with cross-border family ties attending funerals in Guinea before returning home with the virus.
MSF has sent 35 of its health workers to Gueckedou, in the country’s heavily forested south, close to the centre of the outbreak, with the aim of treating those affected, identifying possible new cases and providing information to limit the spread of the disease.
“The priority is to identify people who have been in contact with confirmed or suspected cases, so that we can follow them and isolate them if they present symptoms,” Ferir said.
People must accept to go to our special units (when sick), because if someone suspected of carrying the disease remains in a community, that person can continue to infect others.
To date, no treatment or vaccine is available for the Ebola pathogen, which kills between 25 and 90 percent of those who fall sick, depending on the strain of the virus, according to the World Health Organisation.
Transmission of Ebola to humans can come from wild animals, or from direct contact from another human’s blood, faeces or sweat, or by sexual contact and the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
The MSF has established a treatment centre in Gueckedou to help rehydrate those who have contracted the disease, while also helping them manage the pain and the high fevers brought about by Ebola.
Ferir says MSF is also making psychologists available to affected communities, in an attempt to “demystify” the illness and prevent both patients and those treating them to be stigmatised by local communities.
“The population needs to be on board and not against those who are there to help,” Ferir said.
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Will this apply to the supply of pharmaceuticals and the availability of online dispensing of prescriptions to Irish residents?
This will not apply to pharmaceuticals as the rules will apply only to the seller. They could sell it to you it does not mean customs will let it through and yes they are very active in looking for pharmacy product along with An Post.
…and also food.
for example, Tesco sells food in Ireland at an average 30% higher price than in the UK
plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Will it enable me to purchase a car at European prices?
Or get a mortage at the European avarage.
It won’t apply to pretty much most things as without the slightest doubt Noonan is dreaming up a tax to hit us with
Tom, no. Ireland circumvents the Treaty of Rome with “special permission” to apply VRT to car prices in Ireland. An outdated tax from when Ireland was a poor country. Eu countries only pay vat on cars.
What about when you buy an item one Ebay for 10 EUR but the cost of postage is more than the actual purchase. Will that scam be done away with as well?
When will VRT be scrapped?
Tom, being part of Europe you already do. Perhaps just not the cheapest part of Europe.
Maybe prices will be levelled across EU….but at the current highest, not the lowest.
Or some countries will find they can. No longer purchase certain brands/items.
F**k the EU. That is all.
Wish they’d do something about VRT!
The only thing they could do about VRT is to ensure you are refunded is the car is sold out of the state. Or ensure that if importing a car that you only pay the difference in taxes not the full whack as happens elsewhere in Europe.
So buy everything on line from China and shot down irish shops/busimesses as has been the practice. Great idea. China up. Unemployment up. Towns dead. Retail dead.
If you can buy the same item directly from China then all you are doing is cutting out middle men.
China is not in Europe.
I don’t think will get rid of the Amazon ‘sorry we don’t ship that to Ireland’ message or the delivery fee jumping to 25 euros for a 5 euro item because you’re in Ireland.
You said it Barry. Amazon has the potential to be great but delivery charges range from free to a multiple of the value of the shipped item. Given that standard post is the most commonly used method why are so many things simply not available to ROI. Try to buy a high end phone for example on offer at a fraction of the retail price here and its non deliverable here.
I purchased a small item on Amazon some weeks ago. €5 item, €1 delivery….. Grand.
Went to get a second one two weeks later, delivery alone rose to €9!!!!
I guess I will now just have to put up with massive spontaneous errections now: – (
Amazon are busy building a huge development in Blanchardstown
Use An Post’s new service that gives a delivery address in the UK for just €3.50 per item delivered to your local Post Office! AddressPal …
A lot of products can’t be shipped due to licensing issues. Companies will purchase the licensing rights to sell products in a particular country. The company then bears the cost of advertising and support in the country. It is not really fair on the company if the consumer can simply buy their product from a supplier in a different country. Until licensing issues are resolved it will be very difficult to get this to work
Or parcel motel which is open 24/7 where you aren’t at the mercy of the post office opening hours which don’t suit anyone working regular hours
Cheers Peter. Didn’t know of this service. Many things are free delivery to the UK so this is also potentially a much cheaper delivery option.
Definitely — I’ve been using it since its launch in March and saved a TON on shipping fees. Especially with a lot of (even) UK companies that don’t/won’t ship to Ireland!!
Use parcel motel for UK items..
@Peter Banks: I have tried to use this, they have ridiculously small maximum dimensions of the package. It pretty much limits them to the size if an A4 envelope. Unfortunately, this excludes almost everything you might want to buy….
Getouttahere … Unless you’re trying to order a Sherman Tank I think that An Post’s dimensions are more than adequate for most on-line purchases!
How about you go and look up the package sizes on their website before spouting totally inane comments …
I ordered an item that was 1mx60cm. They told me it was over their limits and said if I wanted the item delivered I would have to pay an additional €75. Needless to say, I said I wouldn’t accept the package. Maybe they have increased their maximums since then…
3 feet X 2 feet – That’s some BIG package.
Please – what the heck was it that you were ordering?
Must ‘ve been a dog house
If you buy from a private seller via amazon they may refuse the sale because Irish Credit cards are essentially anonymous as the delivery address and cardholder name cannot be verified like with UK credit cards. Thus they are wide open to chargebacks.
Can you buy cigarettes online from Spain now
Maybe one at a time.
Plenty of sites that will send you 4 packs at a time to keep the cost for customs and vat less than 13 euro. Assuming your not smoking 200 a week you could be getting plenty perfectly legally at local prices plus postage.
How about making a law that postage and packaging charges can only be how much it actually costs to post and package something?
Easier said than done. Worked in e-commerce for a while and most systems only have generic estimations for shipping costs. Integrating into shipping providers for real-time shipping prices is a nightmare.
I presume local VAT will still apply though, so there will still be the annoying situation where the display price changes by a few percent when you enter your address.
Even more frustrating for me, is seeing a product made in the EU for sale in Walmart in the US or elsewhere in the US for less than half the price it’s available anywhere in the EU. By the time delivery and import taxes to Ireland are factored in, it’s about even pricewise.
You can’t really have equality in prices for the EU citizen unless you have equality in VAT rates. unless ever country has the same VAT import rates, then it’s not really equal. They vary between 17 and 27% around the EU.
Also, delivery costs as mentioned above, can;t be equalised either as it costs DHL or whoever, more money to ship to Ireland. It’s onl fair that the further away you are, the more you pay. Unless of course the EU is suggesting subsidising courier and transport companies? Sounds silly.
You have completely misunderstood the proposals.
No, I don’t think I have.
Did you read the delivery example ? The distance hasn’t changed yet the price difference is huge.
That has to do with volume, most of it going in the one direction.
Wacky packies
Regarding Vat, it’s due to the country of the buyer, not that of the seller so will be the same rate for you regardless of which eu country you are buying from.
No Gary, that ain’t correct.
Does this mean I can get a mortgage online from somewhere cheaper?
Or car insurance ? Now that would be very nice…
I’m not sure if they’ve fixed it now but similar used to go on at airlines regarding the same distance costing different prices. If you booked a flight from Spain to Ireland from an Irish IP you’d often be charged more than if you booked the same flight from a Spanish one.
I noticed it in the reverse, a ticket from Dublin to the US being cheaper from an Irish IP, than the same ticket from a German IP, when my dad wanted to book.
I’m not sure it’s the airlines to be honest but some jiggery pokery with credit card taxes or some other such thing. The airlines don’t actually seem to care where you book from at the end of the day as it’s in none of their t&c’s. Worth looking out for though to save a few bob.
Just checked why and while taxes play a small part most is down to demand and marketing reasons from the airline in the country the flight is booked. Basically it is the airline and the main reason seems to be.. “because they can”.
Consistent prices? Does that mean we can have eastern block pricing for booze?
And €50 car tax
Does this mean we can buy car insurance at european prices???
No. Most Eu countries the car is taxed. So a driver with a license can drive it. Car insurance in Ireland is very expensive as each person has to be insured. That won’t change-vested interests.
So if Britain don’t exit can we buy our cars in the UK without been obliged to pay the VRT ????
No u still have to pay VRT. only people in uk can buy nice cars. They also don’t pay €2350 car tax for luxury motors, hence many nice uk cars.
Real question is,will there be an EU in a few weeks.EU,ROME and a DAY.
And who cares about the bbciplayer
Interesting that you feature an article about online shopping but use a lot of space up on the dubject of streaming which is not strictly speaking on line shopping. I deduce that you want a better deal on your streaming and just highjacked the article.
So more of a FEDERATED E.U. in the way it does business???
have your say