US begins its crusade against Ebola
The US is deploying 3,000 troops to countries hit by the Ebola outbreak and the Pentagon has requested a further $500m from Congress in the continued fight against the disease
Health workers fight to control the Ebola outbreak in one of the worst affected areas, Liberia. Obama has taken major steps in order to control the deadly disease
The plans, announced by President Obama, include building twenty 100-bed treatment centres, providing US Public Health service personnel in Liberia’s field hospitals, training up around 500 local healthcare workers and establishing an “air bridge” to speed up the transportation of medical supplies. The efforts will be focused mainly on Liberia, which has most strongly affected by Ebola, with a regional control centre to be commanded in its capital Monrovia. A staging area in Senegal will be set up to provide aid and distribute personnel.
Obama said at the Atlanta headquarters of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention: “The reality is that this epidemic is going to get worse before it gets better. But, right now, the world still has an opportunity to save countless lives”, adding that “the United States of America intends to do more”, Reuters reports.
The efforts will be focused mainly on Liberia, which has most strongly affected by Ebola
An anonymous Whitehouse official said the Defence Department was asking for a further $500m from the US fiscal 2014 budget to fund humanitarian supplies, training of care workers and transportation of personnel. That brings the total potential funding available to fight the virus to $1bn, following a previous sum of $500m allocated from the 2013 fiscal year to combat Ebola and Islamic State militants in Iraq. The US has already spent $175m in efforts to curb the epidemic and a further $88m was recently requested from Congress to carry the federal government through to the end of 2014.
The WHO and officials in West Africa commended the US pledge to provide more personnel. But according to a report by Bloomberg, the UN said a total of $988m is needed to fight Ebola. Reuters reports that the WHO said affected countries need at least 10,000 more local health workers alongside 500-600 more foreign experts.
The outbreak has had a damaging effect on the economies of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the worst affected countries. Ama Baidu-Forson, Senior Economist for Sub-Saharan Africa at IHS told The New Economy: “We expect real GDP growth to be curbed significantly for 2014 as a result of the ongoing EVD outbreak”. She added: “The deterioration of the economic outlooks in these countries extends in our forecasts into the medium-term and long-term to some extent”.
