The head of the World Health Organization and leaders of West African nations affected by the Ebola outbreak are to announce a joint $100m (\u00a359m; 75m euro) response plan.<\/p>\n
They will meet in Guinea on Friday to launch the initiative aimed at tackling a virus which has claimed 729 lives.<\/p>\n
Sierra Leone’s president has declared a public health emergency over the outbreak after 233 people died there.<\/p>\n
Ebola spreads through human contact with a sufferer’s bodily fluids.<\/p>\n
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.<\/p>\n
Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected, with patients having a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.<\/p>\n
‘A new level’<\/p>\n
WHO Director General Margaret Chan will meet West African presidents in the Guinean capital Conakry.<\/p>\n
“The scale of the Ebola outbreak, and the persistent threat it poses, requires WHO and Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to take the response to a new level, and this will require increased resources, in-country medical expertise, regional preparedness and coordination,” she said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“The countries have identified what they need, and WHO is reaching out to the international community to drive the response plan forward.”<\/p>\n
Key elements of the WHO’s new plan are:<\/p>\n
Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma announced earlier that the epicentres of the outbreak in the east would be quarantined and he asked the security forces to enforce the measures.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The head of the World Health Organization and leaders of West African nations affected by the Ebola outbreak are to announce a joint $100m (\u00a359m; 75m euro) response plan. They will meet in Guinea on Friday to launch the initiative aimed at tackling a virus which has claimed 729 lives. Sierra Leone’s president has declared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[15,43,38],"yoast_head":"\n