Obama Urges Countries, Businesses to Boost Ebola Response
President Barack Obama urged countries, foundations and businesses to step up contributions to the global response to Ebola, calling the disease a threat to the world while emphasizing that the U.S. would keep leading the effort.
I want us to be clear: we are not moving fast enough, Obama said at a meeting on the Ebola outbreak held alongside this weeks United Nations General Assembly session in New York. Right now everybody has the best of intentions, but people are not putting in the kinds of resources that are necessary to put a stop to this epidemic.
The outbreak has hit Liberia hardest and affected four other West African countries, killing at least 2,900 people and infecting at least 6,200, according to the World Health Organization report. The World Bank has said the economic costs of the outbreak will be catastrophic if the virus continues to spread.
Ebola is raging. It kills more than 200 people a day, two thirds of them women, said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who headed todays meeting. Despite the valiant efforts of local communities, health systems are buckling under the strain.
The disease may cost Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three nations with the most infections, as much as $809 million, the World Bank said on Sept. 17.
The outbreak has made clear the need for faster action in the future, Ban said. He suggested creating an international standby corps of medical professionals backed by the WHO and the UNs logistical capacity, similar to UN peacekeepers that prevent conflicts and rebuild countries torn by war.
This crisis has highlighted the need to strengthen early identification systems and early action, Ban said. Just as our troops in blue helmets help keep people safe, a corps in white coats could help keep people healthy.
Obama pledged Sept. 16 to send 3,000 troops to the region and help build many as 20 100-bed treatment centers. Obama said the U.S. also would train about 500 health-care providers. Troops have started arriving in Liberia, and are assessing sites for the treatment units.
Much of the current effort has been handled by not-for-profit aid and missionary groups. Rick Sacra, a U.S. doctor infected in Liberias capital, Monrovia, was released from a Nebraska hospital today after being flown to the U.S. for treatment.
I feel great except that I am extremely weak, he said at a press conference at Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha. I view Liberia as my second home so I think the odds are good that Ill be back.
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Obama Urges Countries, Businesses to Boost Ebola Response