Nearly $1 billion dollars is needed to fight the Ebola outbreak raging in west Africa, the United Nations said Tuesday, more than doubling the estimate it made less than a month ago.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told reporters in Geneva there was a "huge funding challenge", warning that "if not dealt with effectively now, Ebola could become a major humanitarian crisis in countries currently affected."The response to the crisis will require $987.8 million, with about half needed for the worst-hit country, Liberia, the UN said in its response plan.
It stressed there were some 22 million people living in the three countries most affected by the outbreak.
The UN announcement came as the death toll from the worst-ever Ebola epidemic rose to 2,461, out of 4,985 cases in the three west African countries that have borne the brunt of the disease, according to fresh figures from the World Health Organization.
The UN document estimates that some 20,000 people could be infected with Ebola by the end of the year, with Guinea accounting for 16 percent of infections, Sierra Leone 34 percent and Liberia a full 40 percent.
If the international community and affected countries respond swiftly and energetically, transmission should begin to slow by the end of the year and end by mid-2015, the document said.
"This health crisis we face is unparallelled in modern times," WHO's emergency chief Bruce Aylward said at a joint press conference.
"We don't know where the numbers are going," he said, pointing out that two weeks ago when WHO said it needed the capacity to manage 20,000 cases, "that seemed like a lot."
"That does not seem like a lot today," Aylward said.
While it was difficult to estimate accurately how many people might become infected and die going forward, Aylward said WHO believed "the numbers can be kept in the tens of thousands, but that is going to require a much faster escalation of the response if we're to beat the escalation of the virus."
Follow us on Facebook:
PEFM 87.6
Follow us on Twitter:
@PEFMnews
Listen to us on streaming internet radio at: Tunein and from our website at: PEFM
International Correspondent Scott Congdon can be reached at:
Mail: scottcpefm@gmail.com
Phone: 010 500 8203 (in South Africa) (Available 3-5pm SAST weekdays)
011 27 10 500 8203 (calling from outside of South Africa) (Available 3-5pm SAST weekdays)
*Note: Views expressed in the commentaries on this website are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of PEFM 87.6or our presenters or correspondents. Quotes are obviously the opinion of the source. A quote is just a quote and these are offered without comment. Use of a news story or commentary is not an endorsement of the source website.
© PEFM 87.6
No comments:
Post a Comment