World Losing Battle Against Ebola

The international medical agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says the world is losing the battle against the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa.

On Tuesday, the group said that treatment centers in West Africa had “reduced to places where people go to die alone, where little more than palliative care is offered.” “Six months into the worse Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it,” Doctors Without Borders’ President Joanne Liu said. The MSF president said that the group, which has treated over 1,000 patients since March, is completely overwhelmed by the spread of the virus.

Liu called for more assistance from countries that have already helped and those which “have not come on board.” “The announcement [by the World HealthOrganization] on August 8 that the epidemic constituted a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ has not led to decisive action, and states have essentially joined a global coalition of inaction,” Liu said.

She added that infectious bodies were rotting in the streets of Sierra Leone, while Liberia was forced to build a new crematorium instead of a new Ebola care center. Meanwhile, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that restrictions on movement in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which are badly hit by the epidemic, have caused panic buying, food shortages and severe price hikes. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has left over 1,550 people dead and infected 3,062 others since it was first reported in the forests of southeastern Guinea in March. Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.