Mr Donald Lu — Deputy Co.Odinator for Ebola response in US Department of State
The Deputy Co-ordinator for Ebola Response in the United States of America (USA) Department of State, Mr Donald Lu, says the USA will not close its borders to West Africa despite the widespread nature of the deadly disease in the sub-region.
“We believe it is essential that all borders across the globe remain open, and that commercial flights continue, and that ports remain accessible”.
Articulating the US response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa in a press teleconference, Mr Lu said, “Our relief efforts depend on the ability to fly in relief supplies and personnel freely.
“Once countries start to close their borders, their air space, prevents the landing of flights that have come from West Africa, that means we are going to have tremendous challenges in responding to this crisis”.
Call to action
He called on the international community to step up efforts at helping to stop the spread of Ebola in West Africa.
“The international community has not done enough and needs to move quicker”, he said.
Mr Lu expressed worry about the fact that only 35 countries, out of over 190 countries in the world, have pledged support of $690 million, and millions more in material and personnel support.
Other support
Enumerating other support, he said the World Bank had committed $400 million, while the IMF had advanced $130 million in zero per cent loans.
For its part, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has pledged $150 million.
“Additionally, private sector donors, including the Gates Foundation and the Paul Allen Foundation, have made significant pledges”, Mr Lu said.
However, he pointed out that, “all of these are dwarfed by the enormous need on the ground. The UN alone, through its agencies, the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, and the World Food Programme (WFP), has identified an unmet need of an additional one billion dollars.
“We have seen real progress in the last few weeks in terms of the international response to Ebola, but with these enormous needs, more has to be done”, he said.
AFRICOM’s support
The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) Deputy Commander for Military Operations, Lieutenant General Steven Hummer, for his part, said a safe, stable and secure Africa was in every nation’s enduring interests, and the key to our global security and prosperity. According to him, “Ebola is not just a regional threat, but a potential global threat”.
AFRICOM, he said, was “standing up Joint Forces Command-United Assistance Headquarters in Monrovia, Liberia to provide regional co-ordination of US military support to the US government and international relief efforts.”
“We are also establishing a regional intermediate staging base to facilitate and expedite the transportation of equipment, supplies and personnel from Dakar, Senegal.”
“We will also establish a training site which will be able to train up to 500 healthcare support providers per week, enabling healthcare workers to safely provide direct medical care to patients”.
He said the US was not only developing Monrovia as its deployment headquarters but, it was also its logistics site.
So far, he said, there were 3,000 US personnel in Monrovia to help with the fight against the Ebola disease.
USAID support
The USAID Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, Ms Nancy Lindborg, said the United States was fully mobilised and was pooling the capabilities across the US government to fight the virus.
In response to a question on how the USA was supporting all the affected countries, Ms Lindborg said, “We are also working very closely with the United Kingdom, France and the European Union as they step up their efforts.”
“We are sharing operational plans and strategies to ensure that we have a coherent effort”.
The USA, she said, was also working with 12 countries in West Africa towards their Ebola preparedness.
Source: Daily Graphic
