|
NEW YORK, Sept 2 (KUNA) -- The International President of Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF) Joanne Liu told a meeting of member states on Ebola
Tuesday that it is impossible to keep up with the sheer number of Ebola
infected people pouring into facilities in West Africa.
"Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it," she said.
The
MSF official stressed that Leaders are "failing to come to grip" with
this transnational threat, as cases and deaths continue to surge.
Furthermore,
she affirmed that riots are breaking out and isolation centers are
overwhelmed, whereas the health workers on the front lines are becoming
infected and are dying in shocking numbers.
The MSF has been ringing
alarm bells for months, she said, and the outbreak began six months ago,
yet it was declared as "Public Health Emergency of International
Concern" on August 8.
She stressed that many of the member states
have already invested heavily in biological threat response, and
highlighted the political and humanitarian responsibility for immediate
utilization to such capabilities in Ebola-affected countries.
She
called upon the member states to dispatch disaster response teams,
backed by logistical capabilities in order to get the epidemic under
control.
"This is a transnational crisis, with social, economic and security implications for the African continent," she concluded.
On
the same issue, the Director General of the World Health Organization
(WHO) Margaret Chan confirmed that this is the largest, most severe and
most complex Ebola outbreak ever seen in nearly 40 years in history of
this disease.
She reported that as of this week, more than 3,500
cases reported in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia and more than 1,500
deaths. (pickup previous)
mao.bs
|
