African nations pledge health workers to help fight Ebola
By Bloomberg
African nations plan to send at least 2,000 health-care workers to Ebola-affected countries in West Africa, where the World Bank said thousands more are needed to control an outbreak of the disease.
Personnel from countries including Nigeria, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be deployed "as soon as possible," African Union Commission Chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told reporters today in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. At least 5,000 medical workers are needed to help stop the virus from spreading, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said at the briefing that was also attended by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"Right now I'm very much worried about where we'll find those health workers with the fear factor going out of control in so many places," Kim said. "I hope that governments and health professionals will understand that when they took their oath in becoming a health-care worker, it was precisely for moments like this."
Ebola has killed almost 5,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since March. The World Health Organization said today that more health workers are "depsperately" needed to fight the disease in the region. More than 200 local doctors and nurses have died since December from the virus, leaving already crippled health systems weaker. Mali, which became the sixth country in Africa to report Ebola, has one medical worker per about 8,000 people.
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Health officials in Mali have identified 111 people who came into contact with the nation's first Ebola patient, a two- year-old girl who died Oct. 25, according to the WHO. Workers have been unable to find at least 40 of those people, the Geneva-based body said in an internal document seen by Bloomberg News.
Mali's weak health system will make it harder to track everyone down and isolate them, the Red Cross said last week. Medical charity MSF, known as Doctors Without Borders in English, said that four health and sanitation experts should be in Mali tomorrow.
The African Union, a 54-nation body, appealed to other nations on the continent to assist.
"Every African country must send health workers, no matter how small the number," Dlamini-Zuma said.