US president to send 3, 000 military personnel
to West Africa for mission that will include
training of health workers.
US President Barack Obama has said the US is
prepared to take leadership in tackling Ebola,
warning that the epidemic in West Africa is
" spiralling out of control" .
Obama urged a global expanded effort to fight
the deadly disease, as he unveiled a new
$ 500m US initiative that will see 3, 000 military
personnel posted to the region to combat the
health crisis.
In addition to the troop deployment , the
heightened US role in West Africa will include
erecting new treatment and isolation facilities ,
training healthcare workers and boosting
communications and transportation support.
" In West Africa , Ebola is now an epidemic, the
likes that we have not seen before.
It 's spiralling out of control, it 's getting worse,"
Obama said after meeting top US public health
officials .
Obama, who has called the epidemic a national
security crisis, has faced criticism for not doing
more to check the outbreak, which the World
Health Organisation said last week had killed
more than 2, 400 people out of 4 , 784 cases in
West Africa .
US officials said a military control centre for
coordination would be established in Monrovia ,
capital of Liberia, to coordinate efforts with the
US government and other international
partners .
The US plan also focuses on training . A site
will be established where military medical
personnel will teach about 500 healthcare
workers per week for six months or more how
to provide care to Ebola patients, officials said .
The WHO estimates that the hardest- hit
countries - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -
need at least three to four times the number of
medical and public- health workers currently on
the ground, or another 600 doctors to care for
patients and 1 ,000 workers to track their
contacts.
Earlier on Tuesday , the UN chief said the world
body is "taking the lead now" on international
efforts to fight the Ebola outbreak.
" This has gone beyond health issues ,"
Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon said , adding
that the outbreak has social and economic
dimensions and could even affect regional
stability .
He also said the UN General Assembly next
week will follow up with a high- level meeting .
The number of Ebola cases could start doubling
every three weeks in West Africa, the World
Health Organisation said , warning that the
outbreak will cost nearly $ 1bn to contain so it
does not turn into a " human catastrophe " .