Virus Disease in West Africa had risen to 7,178.
Spokesperson of UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, who gave the
update while briefing reporters in New York, said latest statistics
from World Health Organisation (WHO) indicated that the disease had
claimed 3,338 lives in the sub-region.
Dujarric said that the upward trend of the epidemic had continued in
Sierra Leone and "most probably" in Liberia.
He said that the situation in Guinea appeared to be more stable, but
emphasised that "in the context of an Ebola outbreak, a stable pattern
of transmission is still of a very grave concern, and could change
quickly".
"In Liberia, the Head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response
(UNMEER), Anthony Banbury, spoke at a news conference to present the
Mission's priorities.
"He also visited Lofa's county treatment centre and met with senior
government officials, civil societies, NGOs, the UN Country team and
the peacekeeping mission to gather their needs," he said.
On funding, Dujarric said: "we would like to welcome Australia's
announcement of an additional contribution of 10 million dollars to
the international response fund.
"The Special Envoy on Ebola, Dr David Nabarro, said it was exactly the
kind of quick and effective response the UN is asking of Member
States, given the complexity and scale of the crisis.
"This will bring Australia's total contribution to the Ebola response
to 18 million dollars, in addition to the more than 40 million dollars
provided to the WHO over the past year to support global health
services activities.
"We would like to encourage other countries to also intensify their
support to the international response," he said.
He added that "in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Humanitarian
Coordinator, Moustapha Soumaré, has allocated 2.5 million dollars to
fight the Ebola outbreak in Equateur province.
He said that 1.8 million dollars would go to the World Food Programme
(WFP) to buy food and also to run the Humanitarian Air Services
(UNHAS), while UNICEF would receive funding for health, water,
hygiene, and sanitation projects.
The spokesperson said that as at Wednesday, 43 people had died out of
70 Ebola cases in Boende district, about 600 kilometres North of
Kinshasa, the capital.
He said that the UN believed that air travel to and from the West
African countries affected by the Ebola virus should continue in spite
of the first reported case of Ebola in the US.
According to him, it is very important not to isolate these countries
as it would worsen their political and economic situations.
He said aid groups need access to the Congolese region and emphasised
the importance of screening of travelers at departure and arrival
points.
No comments:
Post a Comment