WHO issues road map to combat Ebola outbreak

Ebola Outbreak

Africa could reach 20,000 Ebola cases in upcoming monthsA picture taken on August 25, 2014 in Monrovia shows nurses wearing a protective suit escorting a man infected with the Ebola virus to a hospital in Monrovia. (Photo: AFP/Zoom Dosso)

A new report by the World Health Organization creates a plan to fight the Ebola outbreak in Africa. It’s designed to address a caseload that could exceed 20,000 Ebola patients. CCTV America’s Jim Spellman reports.

It’s already the biggest outbreak of Ebola on record with 3,000 reported cases and 1,400 deaths.

To stem the outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) has laid out a new so-called Roadmap with three objectives:

  1. Treat and isolate patients in heavily impacted countries like Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
  2. Contain the spread of the disease in neighboring countries like Nigeria, which has just a few cases.
  3. Stop any spread of the disease to additional countries-through better preparation and response to new cases.

Currently, leaders estimate that the outbreak could take six to nine months to fully contain. However, local treatment centers are already overwhelmed.

To implement the WHO plan will require more expert staff, better training, and specialized equipment, as well as access to better equipment to quickly and accurately diagnose the virus. This would allow for rapid isolation and treatment.

The cost, however, is an estimated $490 million from local governments and the international community, including the World Bank and the World Health Organization.

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