US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power arrived yesterday in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, on a mission to see first-hand how the global response is failing to stop the deadly spread of Ebola in west Africa.
Power, who also is to visit Sierra Leone and Liberia, said she hopes to gain a better understanding of what resources are missing so she can push other countries to offer more help.
The three west African nations are bearing the brunt of the worst outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever on record, which the WHO says has killed nearly 5,000 people. A small number of cases have also been reported in Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the US.
“We are not on track right now to bend the curve,” Power said. “I will take what I know and I learn and obviously provide it to [US President Barack] Obama, who’s got world leaders now on speed dial on this issue.”
“Hopefully, the more specific we can be in terms of what the requirements are and what other countries could usefully do, the more resources we can attract,” she said.
The UN said last month almost US$1 billion was needed to fight Ebola over the next six months. According to the UN Financial Tracking Service, nearly US$500 million has been committed and a further US$280 million in nonbinding pledges made.
Aid groups on the ground have said more doctors, nurses and treatment centers are needed. Ebola patients are being turned away when there are not enough beds and usually cared for at home — where they risk infecting more people, aid workers said.
“As we have seen — along with Spain — it is not a virus that is going to remain contained within these three affected countries if we don’t deal with it at its source,” Power said.
Some US Republican legislators have called for a travel ban on the hotspot countries after four cases of Ebola were diagnosed in the US. Obama has resisted such a move on advice from public health officials, who say Ebola, which is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, poses no major health threat to the US.
Power said the benefits of seeing the Ebola response first-hand outweighed the risks of traveling to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, adding that she would take all necessary precautions during her visit and upon her return to the US, including checking her temperature “many times a day.”
“Above all, what I will do is encourage people who are frightened right now to recognize that hundreds of health workers have gone in and out of these effected countries many months ago and recently, and have come home safe and are living within their communities,” Power said. “We can manage this outbreak and stop it in its tracks if we follow the science and if we follow the protocols.”
Power also plans to visit the headquarters of the UN Ebola response mission in Ghana, which is coordinating efforts in west Africa.
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