The deadly Ebola outbreak will be ended in 2015,
the outgoing head of the UN team fighting the
disease has said.

Anthony Banbury said the number of Ebola cases
would be brought down to zero by the close of
this year, but admitted that the end was "not
close".
"We are engaged in an epic battle," he said.
The virus has killed nearly 8,000 people, mostly in
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, where the
disease started in December 2013.

Mr Banbury admitted his three month mission
had failed to hit its target of 100% safe burials
and treatment of 70% of infected people.
But he praised international efforts and insisted
"the global response to the Ebola crisis has been
extremely successful".
"Going forward it's going to be extremely hard for
us to bring it down to zero [cases], but that is
what we will do," he told reporters, adding: "I
believe we will end Ebola in 2015."

Earlier this week, the World Health Organization
said the number of people infected by the virus in
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea had passed
20,000.

The WHO said more than a third of the 20,000
cases in West Africa were in Sierra Leone, which
has become the worst-hit country.

source: www.http://m.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30655303