Monrovia/Dallas: The UN launched a mission Thursday to prevent the global spread of Ebola, describing the epidemic as the world’s “highest priority” as the United States scrambled to limit its own outbreak.
Anthony Banbury, head of the UN Mission on Ebola Emergency Response, began a tour of the three hardest-hit nations in the Liberian capital Monrovia setting out an ambitious goal to eradicate the deadly virus. “The only way we will end this crisis is if we end every single last case of Ebola so there is no more risk of transmission to anyone, and when that’s accomplished, UNMEER will go home,” he said.
The agency will work on health and education, Mr Banbury said. But it will also make more vehicles available in the response and helping Ebola-free neighbouring countries defend themselves against a possible spread.
“The sooner UNMEER can end, the better for all of us. It’s my hope that it will be as soon as possible because that means fewer lives will be lost,” he told reporters.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had told Banbury on his arrival in Liberia, the worst-hit nation with almost two-thirds of the 3,338 deaths in west Africa, that the virus had spread to all 15 of its counties.
The UN envoy said he was intent on contributing to “the highest priority for the international community — for the whole world, not just the United Nations”.
On Friday, he is to move on to Sierra Leone and then Guinea on Sunday.
Meanwhile, health officials in Texas were monitoring 100 people Thursday for signs of Ebola and ordered four close family members to stay home as authorities investigate the first confirmed US case of the deadly disease.
The patient, who was identified in US media as Thomas Eric Duncan, travelled from Liberia to Texas, where he was diagnosed earlier this week.
Mr Duncan did not have a fever when he departed Liberia on September 19, said Centres for Disease Control and Prevention chief Tom Frieden.
However, he began to feel sick on September 24, and once a patient begins to show symptoms like fever, vomiting and diarrhoea, they can infect others who come in close contact with their bodily fluids. Duncan was initially sent home when he first sought medical care.
