Liberian President Hopes US Ebola Pledge Will Spur Others to Help
by VOA News September 17, 2014
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called a U.S. decision to deploy 3,000 troops to West Africa a 'significant moment'' in the battle against the worst Ebola outbreak on record and said she hoped it would spur other nations into action.
In a message to the Liberian people, Johnson Sirleaf said on Wednesday her government was 'fighting back'' against the deadly virus. Ebola has killed around 1,300 people in Liberia, the country hardest hit by the outbreak.
'Our American partners realize Liberia cannot defeat Ebola alone. This disease is not simply a Liberian or West African problem. The entire community of nations has a stake in ending this crisis,'' Johnson Sirleaf said in a written statement. 'We hope this decision by the United States will spur the rest of the international community into action,'' she said.
Obama: outbreak threatens international security
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the outbreak was a looming threat to international security and announced a major expansion of the U.S. role in trying to halt the spread of the disease, including the deployment of 3,000 troops.
Obama said the U.S. military is in the best position to expedite the international response.
'We're prepared to take leadership on this to provide the kinds of capabilities that only America has, and to mobilize the world in a way that only America can do,' the president said.
He also said a quicker response from the international community is needed to stop the disease from infecting hundreds of thousands of people and to keep West African countries from political turmoil.
'This is an epidemic that is not just a threat to regional security, it's a potential threat to global security if these countries break down, if their economies break down, if people panic. That has profound effects on all of us, even if we are not directly contracting the disease,' Obama said.
The U.S. plan also includes establishing a regional command and control center in Liberia's capital; building 17 treatment centers with 100 beds each and training thousands of health workers.
'The people of Liberia have suffered greatly since this disease took hold. But we are a strong and resilient people,'' said Johnson Sirleaf, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on women's rights. 'To Liberians, my message is simple - we are fighting back.''
The Liberian leader appealed for help to the Obama administration directly last week, as the country is reporting more Ebola cases and more deaths than other country.
Ebola treatment units there are overwhelmed. People are dying at home and on the streets. Aid organizations say the Ebola caseload is growing exponentially.
UN taking lead
On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations was 'taking the lead' in efforts to combat the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa.
He told reporters that he and World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan will outline an international plan on Thursday during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
The council is due to vote the same day on a U.S.-drafted resolution calling on member states to quickly send aid, field hospitals and health workers to affected countries and lift travel restrictions to those areas.
Ban said the U.N. General Assembly will also hold a 'high-level meeting' on the situation next week, describing the Ebola outbreak as 'an exponential crisis that demands an exceptional global response.'
'Every day we delay, the cost and suffering will grow exponentially. We cannot allow bans on travel or transport to slow us down. We need isolation of people affected by Ebola -- not of nations struggling to cope with it.'
Worst outbreak in history
The worst Ebola outbreak since the disease was identified in 1976 has already killed nearly 2,500 people, half of the number infected. It is threatening to spread elsewhere in Africa.
The outbreak of the highly contagious virus, which causes fever and uncontrolled bleeding, was first confirmed in the remote forests of southeastern Guinea in March, then spread across Sierra Leone and Liberia.
A handful of Ebola deaths have been recorded in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.
Former Ebola patient testifies before congress
Meanwhile, U.S. doctor Kent Brantly, who contracted Ebola after treating patients in Liberia, was critical on Tuesday of the international response to the outbreak. As Obama met with health officials in Atlanta, Brantly said at a Congressional hearing in Washington that foreign governments only began paying attention to the outbreak when he and another U.S. healthcare worker became ill in July.
'Since that time, there has been intense media attention and increased awareness of the situation on the ground in West Africa. The response to date, however, has remained sluggish and unacceptably out of step with the scope and the size of the problem that is now before us,' Brantly said.
Both Brantly and the other health worker received experimental treatments from a limited supply that was unavailable to other Ebola patients in West Africa. The U.S. government and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline are currently testing a vaccine on 10 people in a federal facility near Washington.
A doctor testified at the same hearing on Tuesday that there were 'no red flags' in the drug trial that began September 2.
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