(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM)) The newly appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has vowed to eradicate Ebola, saying, "We have no plan B, we have to get rid of this virus. This is within our reach, but we should not be complacent." He was speaking with United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, UNMEER, staff at a town hall meeting in Accra, Ghana. He praised their achievements but also noted the challenges in battling the deadly outbreak.
Mr. Ahmed will officially begin his duties next week as head of UNMEER. He will be taking over from Anthony Banbury. "This is a global crisis. We definitely have a difficult time ahead of us, but we can achieve it," Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.
According to the latest World Health Organisation, WHO, figures, there are 20,206 confirmed, probable or suspected cases of Ebola and 7,905 reported deaths. "We need to keep going until we don't have even one case, because even one case is too many," he said. "The work ahead remains very hard but we really have no other choice." Outgoing Head, Anthony Banbury, welcomed Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, saying, "Even while we face a lot of hard work in the days, weeks and months ahead, it's important to pause and think back to where we were when we started. There were predictions that there would be 1.4 million cases by now." Ould Cheikh Ahmed will be visiting Liberia and Sierra Leone next week, then Guinea shortly after, to reinforce UNMEER's strategic priorities and see first-hand the Ebola response. He will be accompanied by UN Special Envoy on Ebola, Dr. David Nabarro.
According to UNMEER, the three affected countries now have sufficient capacity to isolate and treat 100 percent of confirmed Ebola patients and enough burial teams to ensure safe and dignified burials for 100 percent of all deaths due to Ebola.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.