President Barack Obama today outlined the leadership role the United States will play in helping to halt and reverse the spread of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
Mr. Obama, who visited the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta Tuesday, described the outbreak as not only a “threat to the region but also to global security,” saying the U.S. will send 3,000 troops to fight Ebola.
He observed that more than 2,400 persons have died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and that the outbreak had reached epidemic proportions in West Africa, urging the international community to act quickly to stem further devastation.
The president said that the disease had “completely overwhelmed” hospitals, clinics and public health systems and people were “literally dying on the streets.”
“Right now, the world has an opportunity to save countless lives, to act and to step up,” he said.
Mr. Obama said, U.S troops will establish a military command center in Liberia and take charge of command, control and logistics.
Specifically the U.S. will:
- Build 17 healthcare facilities, each with 100 beds and isolation spaces, in Liberia
- Train as many as 500 health care workers a week
- Develop an air bridge to get supplies into affected countries faster and,
- Provide home health care kits to hundreds of thousands of households, including 50,000 that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will deliver to Liberia this week.
The president said an outbreak of the Ebola virus in the U.S. is “extremely low,” and measures are being undertaken, including “effective surveillance,” to prevent this from occurring.
