UN Chief in Liberia to Monitor Ebola-Fighting Efforts
MONROVIA (PRESS TV) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has traveled to Liberia for an unmediated assessment of global efforts against Ebola in West Africa.
Ban flew in from the UN Ebola mission headquarters in Ghana on Friday. The UN chief was welcomed on arrival by Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai in the capital, Monrovia.
"United Nations will stand with the people in region until such time that we make sure that there is no such cases,” Ban told Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama late Thursday in the capital, Accra.
Mahama said, "We must think carefully about how to strengthen the healthcare systems of the countries in the region to withstand the future outbreak of infectious diseases.”
Non-governmental organizations have censured UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization, for the delay in their responsive actions regarding Ebola.
Ban has planned a meeting with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and officials from the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), and a visit to an Ebola center run by the US military.
Head of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, the UN coordinator for the fight against Ebola, David Nabarro, and UNMEER chief, Anthony Banbury, accompany Ban in the Liberia trip.
The Ebola-stricken countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mali are also on Ban’s itinerary.
He said last month that with international mobilization, the epidemic will be highly likely under control in 2015.
Ebola has killed more than 6,900 people, almost all of them in West Africa, over the past few months. The number of fatalities in Liberia has been 3,290 deaths.
Ban flew in from the UN Ebola mission headquarters in Ghana on Friday. The UN chief was welcomed on arrival by Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai in the capital, Monrovia.
"United Nations will stand with the people in region until such time that we make sure that there is no such cases,” Ban told Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama late Thursday in the capital, Accra.
Mahama said, "We must think carefully about how to strengthen the healthcare systems of the countries in the region to withstand the future outbreak of infectious diseases.”
Non-governmental organizations have censured UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization, for the delay in their responsive actions regarding Ebola.
Ban has planned a meeting with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and officials from the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), and a visit to an Ebola center run by the US military.
Head of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, the UN coordinator for the fight against Ebola, David Nabarro, and UNMEER chief, Anthony Banbury, accompany Ban in the Liberia trip.
The Ebola-stricken countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mali are also on Ban’s itinerary.
He said last month that with international mobilization, the epidemic will be highly likely under control in 2015.
Ebola has killed more than 6,900 people, almost all of them in West Africa, over the past few months. The number of fatalities in Liberia has been 3,290 deaths.