The
West Africa Ebola outbreak is “a growing threat to regional and global
security,” U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday, telling a
high-level meeting on the deadly epidemic at the U.N. General Assembly
that only an international response can prevent “a humanitarian
catastrophe across the region.”
“If
ever there were a public health emergency deserving of an urgent,
strong and coordinated international response, this is it,” the
President said.
Obama
has declared the epidemic — which is centered in Guinea, Liberia and
Sierra Leone — a national security priority amid fears it could spread
farther afield and claim many more lives.
“This
is more than a health crisis,” he said. “This is a growing threat to
regional and global security. In Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone,
public health systems are near collapse. Economic growth is slowing
dramatically. If this epidemic is not stopped, this disease could cause a
humanitarian catastrophe across the region.”
The
President singled out Sierra Leone, where on Wednesday the government
declared a success a three-day nationwide lockdown put in place to help
stop the spread of Ebola, saying it had revealed more cases hidden in
the community. Under the plan, no one was allowed to leave their homes
for three days, from September 19 to 21, allowing volunteers to go
door-to-door to educate people about the deadly virus.
“The
courageous men and women fighting on the front lines of this disease
have told us what they need: more beds, more supplies and more health
workers, as fast as possible,” Obama said. “Right now, patients are
being left to die in the streets. … One health worker in Sierra Leone
compared fighting this outbreak to ‘fighting a forest fire with spray
bottles.’ “
Obama
called the outbreak an “urgent threat to the people of West Africa but
also a potential threat to the world.” A rapid global response to the
crisis “could be the difference between tens of thousands of people
dying and perhaps a million people dying,” he said.
The
President also highlighted United States’ efforts to help, including
establishing a military command in Liberia to support civilian efforts.
But he urged international organizations and businesses to move faster
to mobilize partners on the ground, and nations to contribute everything
from air transport to health care workers to equipment.
“We
are not moving fast enough; we are not doing enough,” Obama said.
“Right now, everybody has the best of intentions, but people are not
putting in the kinds of resources that are necessary to put a stop to
this epidemic.”
The
head of a medical organization at the forefront of fighting the Ebola
crisis also appealed to world leaders at the meeting to take immediate
action or risk losing the fight to contain the epidemic.
“Generous
pledges of aid and unprecedented U.N. resolutions are very welcome. But
they will mean little, unless they are translated into immediate
action,” Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of Médecins Sans
Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, said, according to an advance
transcript of her speech.
“The reality on the ground today is this: The promised surge has not yet delivered.
“The
sick are desperate, their families and caregivers are angry, and aid
workers are exhausted. Maintaining quality of care is an extreme
challenge.”
Liu
said fear and panic have set in as infection rates double every three
weeks in the worst-affected nations, while growing numbers are dying of
other diseases like malaria because health care systems have collapsed.
“Without you, we fall further behind the epidemic’s deadly trajectory. Today, Ebola is winning,” she said.
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