African Union wants entire continent to fight Ebola

Ebola Outbreak

The African Union has made a public plea to leaders across the continent to join the fight against Ebola. The AU says that unless the outbreak is curbed, the killer virus will hit every country in Africa. CCTV America’s Girum Chala reports.

The Union wants all its members to take action on Ebola, even if there are currently no cases in their country.

“It’s a collective fight because it is important to stop the disease in those countries to stop our brothers and sisters dying in those countries. But if we don’t help them, the disease will also come to everyone. So, I think it’s both to help in terms of solidarity with those three countries but it’s also to protect our own citizens because each member state cannot say it is immune,” said Nkosazana Dlamnini Zuma, AU Commission Chair.

Close to 4,500 people have died so far. While international aid and staff are getting into Africa, more help is needed.

The African Union has two teams of medics on the ground in Liberia and Sierra Leone. A third will go in to Guinea. But raising the money for those teams has been a struggle and even now, the AU lacks the funding to see through the planned sixth-month mission.

South African Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will heat to the three countries to examine how the rest of Africa can help.

CCTV America is joined by David Quammen author of “Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus,” to talk about the spread of this deadly disease.

The first American nurse diagnosed with the virus is being moved to a special isolation ward in Maryland. Nina Pham is one of two Texas nurses with Ebola. Both healthcare workers treated a Liberian man who later died. Pham will be the first confirmed Ebola patient treated at the National Institutes of Health. She is reported in stable condition. CCTV America’s Ginger Vaughn reports from Dallas.