The Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has appealed to all countries to help fight the Ebola virus, warning it is a disease that respects no borders.
In an audio letter to the BBC, the president said the whole world had a stake in the fight.
“This fight requires a commitment from every nation that has the capacity to help, whether that is with emergency funds, medical supplies or clinical expertise,” she said.
“I have every faith in our resilience as Liberians, in our capacity as global citizens to face down this disease, beat it and rebuild.”
Meanwhile, the president of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, appointed a new national response team to deal with the outbreak of Ebola in the country.
He said the changes were necessary because of the scale of the epidemic in Sierra Leone.
A spokesman for the country’s health ministry, Sidie Yayah Tunis, said the aim was to improve the coordination of medical aid and personnel coming to Sierra Leone
“The idea is to be able coordinate all of the response activities that different partners and players are engaged in, so that we will have a unified and robust strategy,” he said.
Warnings of humanitarian disaster
Ebola could become the “definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation”, the aid agency Oxfam warned on Saturday, as it issued a call for more troops, funding and medical staff to be sent to west Africa.
The appeal was targeted at EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, and came as British prime minister David Cameron urged fellow European leaders to step up their collective action against the virus.
“The Ebola crisis could become the definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation,” said a spokesperson for the British-based charity, which is working to reduce the impact of Ebola in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Oxfam admitted it was “extremely rare” for it to urge military intervention but said troops had the logistical expertise and capacity to respond quickly in great numbers.
Chief executive Mark Goldring added: “We are in the eye of a storm. We cannot allow Ebola to immobilise us in fear, but instead we must move toward a common mission to stop it from getting worse.
“Countries that have failed to commit troops, doctors and enough funding are in danger of costing lives.
“The speed and scale of the intervention needed is unprecedented. Only a concerted and coordinated global effort will stop the spread.”
Mr Cameron also urged EU leaders meeting on Thursday and Friday in Brussels to commit more funds and staff to the fight against Ebola, and to increase coordination on screening at ports of entry to Europe.
British officials said the total contribution from the EU so far was 500 million euros ($AUD 730 million) – of which almost 160 million euros was from Britain –and Mr Cameron said this should be doubled to 1 billion euros.
“The Ebola outbreak in west Africa is an issue that requires a substantial global response,” the prime minister wrote, adding that “much more must be done”.
He said EU leaders should “commit to an ambitious package of support to help reduce the rate of transmission in west Africa, to reduce the risk of transmission within Europe, and to pledge long-term support to assist with recovery, resilience and stability in the region”.
Mr Cameron also proposed the EU mobilise at least 2,000 workers to go to the region, including 1,000 clinical staff, by the middle of November.
Britain’s contribution, which includes 750 troops, is focused on fighting Ebola in its former colony Sierra Leone.
BBC/AFP