The world's response to the Ebola epidemic is at risk of losing control

As the death toll from the Ebola virus has reached an all-time high of 2,461 deaths out of 4,985 cases, the international community is urgently stepping up efforts to prevent the deadly disease from spreading further.

Determining that the Ebola epidemic is becoming a global threat, the United Nations yesterday (September 16) called for mobilizing more financial resources to deal with the Ebola epidemic.

The United States also pledged to step up efforts with the international community to stop the epidemic that has claimed the lives of thousands of people.

The United Nations (UN) yesterday (September 16) announced that it has raised the amount of money needed to deal with the Ebola epidemic to nearly 1 billion USD, more than double the estimate made less than a month ago, of which Liberia - the most heavily affected country - will need about half. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also called for immediate aid of 200 million USD to respond to the Ebola epidemic.

According to UNICEF, some 8.5 million children and adolescents under the age of 20 are currently living in areas affected by the outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Meanwhile, on the same day, speaking at the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, US President Obama said that the Ebola epidemic spreading in West Africa in recent months is not only a threat to US national security but also a global threat.

He warned that if the international community does not come together to stop the Ebola epidemic now, hundreds of thousands of people could be infected, causing huge impacts on the economy, politics and national security of all countries. The head of the White House pledged that the US would make every effort to support the governments and health care systems of West African countries, especially those most affected by this deadly disease such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The two main areas that the US will focus on supporting West African countries are helping to train thousands of medical workers and building treatment centers.

“Here’s a hard truth,” President Obama said. “In West Africa, the Ebola outbreak is becoming a pandemic the likes of which we have never seen before. It is spiraling out of control, growing in severity, and spreading exponentially. So today I am announcing even stronger measures from the United States to respond to this outbreak. At the request of the Liberian government, we will establish a military command center in Liberia to support civilian efforts in the region. We will establish an air bridge to get medical personnel and supplies into West Africa more quickly.”

To implement this commitment, the White House previously announced that President Obama would mobilize 3,000 military personnel to help West African countries prevent and respond to the Ebola epidemic that has claimed the lives of 2,460 people out of nearly 5,000 infected. With this decision, the US military will lead a 6-month campaign called "United Assistance" to support medicine, logistics, health care and sanitation training in countries that have been and are being ravaged by the Ebola epidemic.

In addition to the US support, China yesterday also announced that it would send more medical staff to Sierra Leone, bringing the total number of medical experts there to 174 to help the West African country deal with the epidemic. The international community's support for countries suffering from the Ebola epidemic has been welcomed by the people of these countries in the context that the governments of West African countries are considered to have insufficient capacity and resources to repel the spread of the deadly virus.

“We welcome the US government’s decision to provide assistance,” said a Liberian. “The death rate from Ebola in Liberia is very high because the government does not have enough equipment to fight the disease. If the US sends 3,000 troops to support Liberia, I think the US is pushing for a more comprehensive program to prevent the spread of Ebola in Liberia.”

The United Nations estimates that by the end of the year, about 20,000 people could be infected, mostly in the three "epidemic" countries of Guinea (16%), Sierra Leone (34%) and Liberia (40%). However, if the international community and affected countries respond quickly, strongly and effectively to the epidemic, it is possible to push back the rate of infection by the end of the year and end the epidemic by the middle of next year./.

According to VOV.VN