The Cuban government is to send 165 doctors and nurses to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the World health Organization (WHO) announced this morning in Geneva, Switzerland, at a joint press conference with the Cuban Minister of public health, Roberto Morales Ojeda. Health care workers, 103 nurses and 62 doctors will be deployed in Sierra Leone in the first week of October.
This is the largest contribution health care staff by one country to date to help control the epidemic, noted WHO Director General Margaret Chan. "This will make a significant difference in Sierra Leone," said Chan
To put into perspective :. WHO has deployed about 500 foreign medical experts to the region. Because they run at any time about 170 of them are in the affected countries, Chan said.
Ebola has sickened at least 4784 people and killed in 2400 in the largest recorded epidemic and its spread further accelerated. Several governments have pledged support. For example, the British government and the Wellcome Trust medical charity announced they will spend £ 6.5 million to accelerate research on the Ebola virus vaccine candidates. German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development announced that it is increasing its contribution to WHO to fight against Ebola 1 million to € € 10 million. And the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $ 50 million for the fight against Ebola. But this does not solve the main problem, experts say. "Money, materials are important, but those alone can not stop the Ebola transmission," Chan said at the press conference. "The thing we need above all is the people."
According to WHO, more than 0 health workers are needed to run an isolation ward with 70 beds. Although it is still unclear how many patients Ebola ago total WHO estimates several hundred additional beds are needed in Liberia alone. at present there is not a single bed available in the country to treat Ebola patients, Chan said.
Several people on the ground in Liberia confirmed Ebola patients are being diverted to Monrovia treatment center to avoid staff being overwhelmed. "We need more action . We need to surge at least two to four times in order to catch outbreaks in these three countries, "said Chan." I hope today's announcement will stimulate more countries to break their support. "
* Ebola files: Given the current Ebola epidemic, unprecedented in terms of the number of people killed and rapid geographical spread, science and science Translational Medicine made a collection of research articles and news on the viral disease available for researchers and the General public.
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