- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Kerry: US Urges World Community to Step Up Efforts to Fight Ebola

Subscribe
More nations across the world need to contribute to international efforts aimed at containing the Ebola virus, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday.

MOSCOW, October 8 (RIA Novosti) – More nations across the world need to contribute to international efforts aimed at containing the Ebola virus, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday.

"More countries can and must step up [their efforts] in order to make their contributions [to the fight against Ebola] felt," Kerry said at a press conference after a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

"While we are making progress we are not where we can say that we need to be. And there are additional needs that have to be met in order for the global community to be able to properly respond to this challenge and to make sure that we protect people in all of our countries," Kerry noted.

"Every nation has an ability to do something in this challenge," the US Secretary of State stressed adding that "there is not a moment to waste in this effort".

"It is not just a question of sending people, though it is vital to send people, but we need Ebola treatment units, we need healthcare workers," Kerry said, noting that the training of healthcare workers is particularly important.

Kerry added that non-medical support and financial assistance, as well as further humanitarian efforts are necessary to contain the spread of the Ebola virus.

The United States will be bringing all of the resources available into the fight against Ebola, Kerry said, praising the recent support the United Kingdom announced for the Ebola-hit Sierra Leone.

"We are monitoring particularly this situation and we are very grateful to the way Great Britain has now ramped up its efforts in Sierra Leone," Kerry noted.

Foreign Secretary Hammond confirmed Wednesday that the United Kingdom it is sending 750 military personnel to Sierra Leone to help build an Ebola treatment center and a training facility for healthcare workers in the country.

The announcement came after a Wednesday meeting of the UK government's Cobra emergency response committee chaired by UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Ebola epidemic currently taking place in West Africa broke out in southern Guinea in February, and later spread across Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the death toll from the epidemic has surpassed 3,400.

50 people are currently at risk from exposure to Ebola in the United States. On Wednesday morning, Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, who was the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, reportedly died at a hospital in Dallas, Texas.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала