WHO working with 15 African countries to prevent Ebola spread

Isabelle Nuttall, an official of World Health Organisation (WHO), says the agency is reviewing Ebola preparedness in 15 African countries.

She said in Geneva on Friday that it was aimed at preventing the disease from spreading across the continent.

Nuttall said the agency was focusing mostly on countries bordering the three Ebola-affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“They really need to be better prepared,” she said.

She said WHO experts would work with authorities to train and equip health staff and to get response teams in place that can identify new cases, isolate them and trace the path of transmission.

Nuttall said other priority countries had been identified by WHO because of their strong trade and transport ties to the region or because of their weak health systems.

They include Benin, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan and Togo.

Nuttall said that many of these countries were already been preparing against Ebola.

“The number of Ebola cases in the three hardest-hit countries will surpass 9,000 this week with the number expected to double every four weeks’’’ she said.

“The number of deaths will climb above 4,500 this week,’’ she added. (dpa/NAN)