NEW YORK, October 9 (RIA Novosti) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday called for a 20-fold increase in assistance to West African countries in their fight against an Ebola outbreak that has claimed more than 3,870 lives.
"The best antidote to fear is an effective and urgent response. We need at least a 20-fold surge in assistance – mobile laboratories, vehicles, helicopters, protective equipment, trained medical personnel, and medevac capacities. We must work together to provide the best standard of care for each individual," the UN chief said on Thursday.
Ban Ki-moon listed five priorities: "First: we must stop the outbreak. Second, we must treat the infected people. Third, we must provide essential services. Fourth, we must preserve stability. Fifth, we must prevent outbreaks in non-affected countries."
"Things will get worse before they get better. And I have instructed my UN principal leaders: Do not wait for a decision. It's a matter of action. I say: Don't wait for clearance; we need to act. I think we can beat this disease. It is time for the international community to step up," UN Secretary-General concluded.
Ban Ki-moon was addressing a high-level World Bank forum about the Ebola crisis in Washington. Top US medical official Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said Ebola was akin to "the next AIDS".
More than 3,870 people have died in the worst Ebola outbreak in history and the first to have occurred in West Africa. It began in southern Guinea in February and spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The WHO says it could infect some 20,000 people before it is brought under control.
