United
Nations Ebola Response Coordinator Dr. David Nabarro has said that the
Ebola virus is spreading in many parts of the country.He made this statement yesterday in a press briefing at the WHO country office, while addressing journalists.
He went further to say that the response is complicated and all need to do better to organize that response, so that it achieves the results quickly without causing more suffering,
Death and damage, therefore their focus is on organization, management and most importantly assuring that all the different efforts of Government and its partners are used as efficiently as it possibly can.
Dr. David Nabarro maintained that they have worked with the government at the highest level, including the President, in order to explore ways to continue to improve organization and that they worked with the partners as well while they are now going to upgrade all aspects of what the United Nations system is doing in a fully accountable manner, so that they get the scale up that is required.
He added that their visit to Sierra Leone has been short because they are trying to go to all four countries in the region and to report back quickly to the Director-General of the World Health Organization and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
He pointed out that the Ebola outbreak is the largest and most complex that they have ever known and is also a disease outbreak that has impacted not just on people but on the country and the World and what is happening in Sierra Leone and other countries in the region is a global issue.
He made it clear that the purpose of their visit is to understand the nature of the outbreak, as it is now and to identify ways in which the response can be stepped up, so that the outbreak can be stopped as quickly as possible. “There is also an effort to understand what the outbreak is doing to people and the economy, so that when the outbreak is stopped, we can all work hard to get the country back to economic growth and development which was going so well before Ebola came along,” he said.
The UN Ebola Response coordinator said they are anticipating partnership from the UN family, Government and partners with the focus on organization and management to really make certain that they contain the disease and bring it under control quickly.
The understandable decision by some countries not to fly in Ebola countries has had a huge operational impact on what is happening here and has enormous impact on WHO in bringing in facilities and other logistics which is now stuff making their job a lot harder.
He said that they have held a series of meetings with International Aviation bodies and airlines to see reason why they should continue to fly to Sierra Leone and other countries but it has been hard convincing them that there is nothing to fear.
Dr. Keiji Fakundu who is the WHO Assistant Director- General for global health security, said that they are basically in Sierra Leone to see how the situation has been evolving, take stock, and see where they are, what needs to be done and what needs to be changed.
He emphasized that they have two main task which are to stop the outbreak and to get the country back to normal. In that light, they have met with so many people and they have also met with the president, meet with doctors, see the clinics and know some of their challenges and get a broader perspective on what needs to be done.
He added that the situation is becoming challenging and difficult and they continue to see cases in places all over the country and their job is to stop it. “Ebola is not a mysterious disease and it transfers from person to person,” he stated.
Dr. Keiji said that when people are brought in the clinic for treatment earlier, they have a much better chance of surviving as there are people who have survived it.
He also explained how the disease can be contacted by body contact and body fluids.
On the new drugs, he said they had not been tested on humans and it becomes a difficult decision to make on their use, as nothing should be taken for granted.
By Jay Willie & Nancy Koroma
Tuesday August 26, 2014 http://awoko.org/2014/08/26/sierra-leone-news-ebola-is-spreading-dr-david-nabarro/
