response<\/a> to a crisis so vast in scope and magnitude.<\/p>\nMoreover, with the number of infected growing exponentially each day, Mr. Banbury cautioned that UNMEER could expect new caseloads of approximately 10,000 people per week by 1 December, meaning that 7,000 beds for treatment were needed. He noted that his Mission expected to have 4,300 beds in treatment centres by that date but lamented that there was no staff to operate many of them under current plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cUNMEER is playing the critical role of crisis manager,\u201d he added, \u201cbut responding to a complex crisis, especially one that cuts across multiple national boundaries, requires an overall perspective and a comprehensive plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UNMEER head pointed out that his mission plan would ultimately ensure that no gaps were left unfilled and that resources were allocated appropriately, all the while permitting Governments to own the Ebola responses in their respective countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s much bad news about Ebola but the good news is we know how to stop it,\u201d said Mr. Banbury, while emphasizing that failure was \u201cinconceivable\u201d and \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must defeat Ebola and we must do it fast,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, a UN children\u2019s rights official briefed reporters on the broader UN response to the Ebola outbreak.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, the UN Children\u2019s Fund\u2019s (UNICEF) spokesperson, Christophe Boulierac, reported that an upcoming conference to be held on 16 and 17 October in Kenema, Sierra Leone, would confront the issues facing Ebola survivors as well as the caring of children infected or affected by the disease.<\/p>\n
Alongside the devastating physiological effects of the virus, the outbreak has ignited panic and fear across affected areas with some survivors, victims, and their children, being spurned by their local communities.<\/p>\n
Mr. Boulierac noted that one \u201ccreative\u201d method to help treat and care for children in a more compassionate manner involved the use of Ebola survivors who could provide those children with the attention they need at no risk to themselves or others. Ebola survivors, as medical professionals have frequently reiterated, are no longer capable of contracting the virus. In addition, he pointed out that the conference would address the stigma and discrimination facing Ebola survivors as such challenges undermined their recovery.<\/p>\n
In other news, Karin Landgren, head of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), announced the death today of the United Nations Volunteer who worked in the Mission\u2019s medical team and was evacuated to Germany last week to receive treatment for Ebola. This is the second death at UNMIL due to Ebola, after an earlier probable case that resulted in the death of a national staff member on 25 September.<\/p>\n
\u201cUNMIL colleagues are saddened by the tragic news as they continue to serve at this very difficult time. Our thoughts now are with the family and friends of the departed,\u201d a UN spokesperson said today in New York.<\/p>\n
As for international support against Ebola, the spokesperson noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced<\/a> that it will provide specialized diagnostic equipment to help Sierra Leone in its efforts to combat the outbreak. That support will later be extended to Liberia and Guinea.<\/p>\nIt will consist of supplementing the country\u2019s ability to diagnose Ebola quickly, using a technology known as Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Early diagnosis, if combined with appropriate medical care, increases the victims\u2019 chance of survival and helps curtail the spread of the disease by making it possible to isolate and treat the patients earlier, the spokesperson explained.<\/p>\n
United Nations<\/em><\/p>\nStay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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