June 3, 2015

UN chief urges all nations to help end Ebola in West Africa

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Wednesday 03 Jun 2015 - 12:21 Makkah mean time-16-8-1436

UN chief Ban Ki-moon

New York (IINA) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday that as long as there is one Ebola case in West Africa "all countries are at risk" and urged all nations to support the final battles to wipe out the deadly disease in Sierra Leone and Guinea, AP reported.
"We are on the home stretch now and what happens now is critical," Ban told a General Assembly meeting on efforts to end the Ebola epidemic that has killed over 11,100 people mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea since it was first reported in March 2014.
Liberia, once the worst affected country, is now Ebola free, but Ban warned that in Sierra Leone and Guinea "the battle has not yet been won" and "any lapse in vigilance could allow the virus to spread."
Dr David Nabarro, the UN Ebola chief, told the assembly that the priority is to ensure the outbreak ends as soon as possible "which will take several weeks and may take a number of months."
"But everybody should be ready in case the disease recurs and needs to be controlled, especially in the coming 12 months," he said.
The Secretary General said UN agencies that will be taking over responsibility for tackling Ebola as the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) scales down "will need considerable resources to go the distance and support recovery" in the three hardest-hit countries.
AB/IINA

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