The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has stressed the need to avoid panic and fear on the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, amidst growing concerns about the alarming rate of its spread in the sub-region.
At a media encounter at the UN headquarters in New York, he maintained that “Ebola can be prevented. With resources, knowledge, early action and will, people can survive the disease”.
To buttress his argument, the UN Secretary General said “Ebola has been successfully brought under control elsewhere, and we can do it here too”.
Referring to the severe lack of capacity in the most severely affected countries- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which have only recently returned to political stability following years of conflict that destroyed or disabled their health systems, he said “We need all hands on deck”.
He therefore urged the international community to respond urgently to the shortage of doctors, nurses and equipment, including protective clothing and isolation tents.
Harping on the need for a coordinated international response, Mr Ban Ki-Moon said he remained in close touch with Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO).
To that end, he announced the designation of Dr. David Nabarro as the Senior United Nations System Coordinator for Ebola Virus Disease. Dr. Nabarro will be responsible for ensuring that the United Nations system makes an effective and coordinated contribution to the global effort to control the outbreak of Ebola.
“In the days ahead, the UN system will further strengthen the way we are dealing with the outbreak”, he assured.
The Secretary General used the occasion to also condemn the systematic persecution of individuals from minority populations and those who refused the extremist ideology of Islamic State and associated armed groups, describing it as a threat to Iraq, Syria and the region.
Urging the international community to do even more to provide the protection they need, he said he was particularly dismayed by IS “barbaric acts, including accounts of summary executions, boys forcibly taken from their homes to fight, girls abducted or trafficked as sex slaves.
The Ebola outbreak has been declared by the World Health Organization as a public health emergency of international concern; after it reported to have claimed more a thousand lives in the sub-region.
Source: ISD
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