President Obama announced this week that he is sending 3,000 American troops to West Africa to help contain and prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola virus that is crippling the region.
Staff Reporter
“This health crisis we're facing is unparalleled in modern times, we don't know where the numbers are going on this,” World Health Organization Assistant Director General Bruce Aylward said Tuesday, according to reports.
With more than 2,300 dead, 120 of them health workers, and nearly 5,000 suspected cases in Liberia, Senegal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the Ebola outbreak is officially an epidemic. One which could have global consequences if not contained. With fatalities mounting and local health care systems becoming completely overwhelmed, some charity groups have questioned the silence of the international community on the crisis. The United States in particular has been criticized for its evacuation of American health workers who were infected with the virus. The treatment of those Americans with an experimental drug called ZMapp, has led some to speculate that the U.S. had developed a cure and was withholding it.
Liberia faces the direst circumstances, with over 1,200 people already dead from the virus and a deteriorated healthcare system that has put treatment and prevention efforts in jeopardy. In addition, regional customs and a suspicion of modern medicine have thwarted quarantine efforts and led to violent protests in the country. This led Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to order a nationwide curfew beginning August 20th.
"Today, there is not one single bed available for the treatment of an Ebola patient in the entire country of Liberia," said Margaret Chan, the World Health Organization's director-general. "As soon as a new Ebola treatment facility is opened, it immediately fills to overflowing with patients," the WHO said.
The pending U.S. intervention, dubbed ‘Operation United Assistance,’ will cost $750 million over the next six months and will send medical personnel, supplies, building material and engineers. The U.S. will establish a regional command and control center in Liberia's capital, Monrovia. Additional plans include building 17 treatment centers with 100 beds each, and train thousands of healthcare workers - up to 500 per week for six months or more.
The President’s plan won praise from the U.N. World Health Organization and the international community for its proposed efforts.
"The scenes that we're witnessing in West Africa today are absolutely gut-wrenching," Obama said. "...These men and women and children are just sitting, waiting to die, right now. And it doesn't have to be this way."