Jul 31, 2014

The World Health Organization is launching a $100 million response plan to combat an “unprecendented” outbreak of Ebola in West Africa that has killed 729 people out of 1,323 infected since February, the agency said on Thursday.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan will meet in Conakry, Guinea on Friday with the presidents of affected West African nations, the United Nations health agency said in a statement.

: Government health workers administer blood tests to check for the Ebola virus in Kenema, Sierra Leone, June 25, 2014. West African states lack the resources to battle the world’s worst outbreak of Ebola and deep cultural suspicions about the disease remain a big obstacle to halting its spread, ministers said on Wednesday. The outbreak has killed 467 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since February, making it the largest and deadliest ever, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Picture taken June 25, 2014. (Umaru Fofana/Reuters)

: Health workers carry the body of an Ebola virus victim in Kenema, Sierra Leone, June 25, 2014. The Ebola outbreak has killed 467 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since February, making it the largest and deadliest ever, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). West African states lack the resources to battle the world’s worst outbreak of Ebola and deep cultural suspicions about the disease remain a big obstacle to halting its spread, ministers said on Wednesday. Picture taken June 25, 2014. (Umaru Fofana/Reuters)

: A view of the isolation block of a hospital where Ebola victims are being treated in Macenta, in this March 27, 2014 file photo. People at high risk of dying in West Africa’s Ebola outbreak should be offered experimental medicines to see if they work, despite the drugs being not fully tested, the head of an influential global health charity said. Jeremy Farrar, a professor of tropical medicine and director of The Wellcome Trust charity, said Ebola’s spread in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia is “out of control” and global health authorities should rethink the approach to potential treatments. (Reuters)

: Medical staff working with Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) prepare to bring food to patients kept in an isolation area at the MSF Ebola treatment centre in Kailahun July 20, 2014. Sierra Leone now has the highest number of Ebola cases, at 454, surpassing neighbouring Guinea where the outbreak originated in February. Picture taken July 20, 2014. (Tommy Trenchard/Reuters)

: Medical staff put on protective gear in Kenema government hospital before taking a sample from a suspected Ebola patient in Kenema, July 10, 2014. Ebola has killed 632 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since an outbreak began in February, putting strain on a string of weak health systems facing one of the world’s deadliest diseases despite waves of international help. Picture taken July10, 2014. (Tommy Trenchard/Reuters)

: Medical staff take a blood sample from a suspected Ebola patient at the government hospital in Kenema, July 10, 2014. Ebola has killed 632 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since an outbreak began in February, putting strain on a string of weak health systems facing one of the world’s deadliest diseases despite waves of international help. Picture taken July10, 2014. (Tommy Trenchard/Reuters)

: A health worker with disinfectant spray walks down a street outside the government hospital in Kenema, July 10, 2014. Ebola has killed 632 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since an outbreak began in February, putting strain on a string of weak health systems facing one of the world’s deadliest diseases despite waves of international help. Picture taken July10, 2014. (Tommy Trenchard/Reuters)

: A health worker removes his protective suit as he emerges from an isolation area at the Medecins sans Frontieres Ebola treatment centre in Kailahun July 20, 2014. Sierra Leone now has the highest number of Ebola cases, at 454, surpassing neighbouring Guinea where the outbreak originated in February. Picture taken July 20, 2014. (Tommy Trenchard/Reuters)

: Medical staff working with Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) put on their protective gear before entering an isolation area at the MSF Ebola treatment centre in Kailahun July 20, 2014. Sierra Leone now has the highest number of Ebola cases, at 454, surpassing neighbouring Guinea where the outbreak originated in February. Picture taken July 20, 2014. (Tommy Trenchard/Reuters)

: Health workers take blood samples for Ebola virus testing at a screening tent in the local government hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone, June 30, 2014. The Ebola outbreak has killed 467 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since February, making it the largest and deadliest ever, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). West African states lack the resources to battle the world’s worst outbreak of Ebola and deep cultural suspicions about the disease remain a big obstacle to halting its spread, ministers said on Wednesday. Picture taken June 30, 2014. (Tommy Trenchard/Reuters)

: Health workers take blood samples for Ebola virus testing at a screening tent in the local government hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone, June 30, 2014. The Ebola outbreak has killed 467 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since February, making it the largest and deadliest ever, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). West African states lack the resources to battle the world’s worst outbreak of Ebola and deep cultural suspicions about the disease remain a big obstacle to halting its spread, ministers said on Wednesday. Picture taken June 30, 2014. (Tommy Trenchard/Reuters)

: A member of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) wearing a white jersey (C) supervises the unloading of protection and healthcare material on July 22, 2014 at Conakry’s airport, to fight the spread of the Ebola virus and treat people who have been already infected. The death toll in West Africa’s Ebola outbreak has risen to 603, the World Health Organization (WHO) said last week, with 68 new fatalities mostly in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The UN health agency said the new deaths were recorded between July 8 and 12, and that 52 of them were in Sierra Leone, 13 in Liberia and three in Guinea, which had previously borne the brunt of the outbreak. Ebola first emerged in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is named after a river in that country. (Cellou Bianani/AFP/Getty Images)

“The scale of the Ebola outbreak, and the persistent threat it poses, requires WHO and Guinea,Liberia and Sierra Leone to take the response to a new level and this will require increased resources, in-country medical expertise, regional preparedness and coordination,” said Chan. Clinical doctors and nurses, epidemiologists, and logisticians are urgently needed, she said.

Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency and called in troops to quarantine epicenters of Ebola on Thursday, joining Liberia in imposing tough controls to curb the worst ever outbreak of the virus amid fears it could spread beyond West Africa.

The outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever, for which there is no known cure, began in the forests of remote eastern Guinea in February, but Sierra Leone now has the highest number of cases. – Tribune wire report

Ebola forces state emergency in Sierra Leone

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