Advance team of UN mission to combat Ebola arrives in West Africa

An advance team of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) has arrived in Accra, Ghana to set up the operation’s headquarters, a UN spokesperson said Monday.

Another advance team of the world body’s first ever mission dealing with a public health crisis also arrived in Liberia, which has been hardest hit by the unprecedented outbreak, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing.

He also announced that the UN has established the Ebola Response Multi-Partner Trust Fund to ensure a coherent UN system contribution to the overall response.

According to the spokesman, the Fund seeks contributions from member states, regional legislative bodies, inter-governmental or non-governmental organizations, businesses and individuals. Donors can also choose to channel their contributions directly to UN agencies participating in the response.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO), in its latest Ebola update issued Monday afternoon, said 5,843 cases and 2,803 deaths have been reported in the current outbreak by the Ministries of Health of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Nearly 6 months after the first Ebola case in west Africa was reported to WHO, UN General Assembly and the Security Council endorsed last week the UNMEER to contain the ongoing outbreak.

The mission will provide the operational framework and unity of purpose to ensure the rapid, effective and coherent action necessary to stop the outbreak, to treat the infected, to ensure essential services, to preserve stability and to prevent the spread to countries currently unaffected.

Source: Xinhua