UN says outbreak could be over by summer

onnaedo

March 12, 2015 1:22 PM

Dr Bruce Aylward who is leading UN’s response to Ebola says health workers now have the facilities and developed proven tactics needed to curb the epidemic.

The United Nations (UN) health arm, World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the Ebola outbreak could be over by summer, the New York Times reports.

Speaking with reporters in Geneva, Dr. Bruce Aylward, who is leading the organization’s response to Ebola said the crisis could be stopped completely but “there’s a need for reinvestment and reinvigoration of the program if we are to get this finished.”

In the three hardest-hit countries in West Africa - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the rate of new infections has fallen steeply from the peak of the epidemic and is now in the range of 100 to 150 cases a week which are nearly all are now in Sierra Leone.

No new cases have been reported in Liberia in the past two weeks while Guinea has had no new cases in the past 10 days.

Dr Aylward further said that health workers now had the facilities and developed proven tactics needed to curb the epidemic. However, the remaining challenge was to build trust in the communities where health workers still encounter resistance.

He also revealed that in continuing the fight against Ebola, the Ebola-fighting group needs $400 million by the end of June, including $125 million for the World Health Organization, the body however only has enough money in hand to continue through the end of April.

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