UNICEF calls for $200 million in aid to fight Ebola

According to Xinhua News Agency, AP and VNA, in the face of the Ebola epidemic spreading and threatening the world, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called for 200 million USD in emergency aid to deal with the epidemic in West Africa. Of this, about 65 million USD will be given to Liberia, 61 million USD to Sierra Leone and more than 55 million USD to help Guinea, the countries most affected by the Ebola epidemic. According to UNICEF, about 8.5 million children and adolescents under the age of 20 are living in areas affected by the Ebola epidemic.

Medical staff in the Ebola outbreak area in Liberia.

* Speaking at the opening session of the 69th UN General Assembly, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to take action and coordinate efforts to deal with the Ebola epidemic. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the number of people infected with the new Ebola virus in West Africa could double within three weeks; at the same time, it warned that the UN needs to spend nearly one billion USD to prevent the disease from spreading into a "global disaster".

* China announced that it will send more medical staff to Sierra Leone, bringing the total number of Chinese medical experts there to 174 to help the West African country deal with the Ebola epidemic. Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) said it will deploy 200 doctors and medical staff to Liberia to coordinate with the international community to fight the Ebola epidemic raging in the country.

* US President B. Obama pledged to join the international community in preventing the Ebola epidemic and the US will mobilize 3,000 military personnel to help West African countries. Accordingly, the US military will lead a six-month campaign to support medicine, logistics, health care training and sanitation in countries affected by the Ebola epidemic. Washington estimates the total cost of the anti-Ebola campaign to be 763 million USD in six months.

According to ND DT