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/