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UN launches mission to combat Ebola
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The U.N. General Assembly and the U.N. Security Council have approved resolutions to create the U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
According to WHO, this is the first time that the U.N. has created a mission for a public health emergency.
As of Monday, there have been 5,843 cases and 2,803 deaths from Ebola throughout Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. On Sunday, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee determined that the outbreak continues to be a public health emergency of international concern.
Many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Cuba, have pledged significant support to battle the outbreak, including health care workers, supplies, materials to build hospitals and military personnel.
“This is not just a public health crisis,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, MD, said in an address to the U.N. Security Council. “This is a social crisis, a humanitarian crisis, an economic crisis and a threat to national security well beyond the outbreak zones. Everything now is ‘unprecedented.’ Everything now is happening faster than ever before. The needs are immense and we know it.”
Margaret Chan
The mission will join the resources of all of the U.N. agencies, funds and programs to support WHO’s expertise and experience in disease outbreaks. WHO is leading the public health efforts for the response, but the support of other U.N. agencies is necessary to deal with social, economic, development and security challenges throughout the region.
“The unprecedented outbreak requires an unprecedented response,” David Nabarro, MD, the U.N. secretary-general’s senior coordinator for the Ebola response, said in a press release. “The number of cases have doubled in these countries in the last 3 weeks. To get in front of this, the response must be increased 20-fold from where it is today.”
The relevant agencies will be working together closely with the governments in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The mission’s hub will be in Accra, Ghana.