Emergency UN Security Council meeting on Ebola

New York - The United States called an
emergency meeting of the UN Security Council
Thursday on the Ebola crisis in West Africa,
saying the situation on the ground is "dire" and
getting worse every day.
US UN Ambassador Samantha Power said the
United States has asked the 193 UN member
states to come to the meeting with "concrete
commitments" to tackle the outbreak, especially
in hardest-hit Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
"The trendlines in this crisis are grave, and
without immediate international action we are
facing the potential for a public health crisis that
could claim lives on a scale far greater than
current estimates, and set the countries of West
Africa back a generation," Power told reporters on
Monday.
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"This is a perilous crisis but one we can contain if
the international community comes together to
meet it head on."
The worst Ebola outbreak in history has hit
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea hardest and also
reached Nigeria and Senegal. It has been blamed
for more than 2 200 deaths. Ebola is spread
through direct contact with the bodily fluids of
sick patients, making doctors and nurses
especially vulnerable to contracting the virus that
has no vaccine or approved treatment.
"We can contain this," Power said. "We know how
to do it and we must avoid panic and fear, but
our collective response to date has not been
sufficient. We must move forward aggressively in
a coordinated fashion."
Power said the meeting on Thursday afternoon
would mark a rare occasion when the Security
Council, which is responsible for threats to
international peace and security, addresses a
public health crisis.
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Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is expected to
brief the council along with World Health
Organisation chief Dr Margaret Chan and Dr David
Nabarro, the recently named UN coordinator to
tackle the disease, as well as representatives
from the affected countries.
A diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity
because the official announcement has not yet
been made, said it would be only the second time
the council takes on a public health issue.
The late former US ambassador to the United
Nations, Richard Holbrooke, organised a council
meeting in January 2000 on the Aids pandemic,
which was addressed by then vice president Al
Gore.