A
humanitarian-aid non-governmental organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres, also
known as Doctors Without Borders, said on Friday that the outbreak of Ebola in
West Africa may take at least six months to be brought under control.
Earlier
during the week, the World Health Organisation had said the scale of the
outbreak appeared to be “vastly underestimated.”
It said
that “extraordinary measures” were needed.
The
epidemic began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra
Leone and Nigeria.
On Friday,
the death toll rose to 1,145 after WHO said 76 new deaths had been reported in
the two days to August 13. There have been 2,127 cases reported.
Liu said
that although Guinea was the initial epicentre, the pace there had slowed, and
other countries – particularly Liberia – were now the focus.
She added,
“If we don’t stabilise Liberia, we will never stabilise the region. In terms of
timeline, we’re not talking in terms of weeks; we’re talking in terms of
months. We need a commitment for months, at least I would say six months, and
I’m being, I would say, very optimistic.”
Liu also
called for more actions from the international community and stronger
leadership from WHO – the UN’s health agency.
She said,
“All governments must act. It must be done now if we want to contain this
epidemic.
“WHO needs
to take leadership and bring some strong elements into the field at all
operational levels. It’s already started but it needs to happen at all levels.”
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