House witnesses paint grim picture of Ebola epidemic
Robert Roos
CIDRAP News
Aug 07, 2014
A US House committee heard grim testimony today on West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, with an official of a leading aid group asserting that inaction by the rest of the world has let the disease get out of control.
“It’s clear to say that this disease is uncontained and out of control in West Africa,” said Ken Isaacs, vice president of program and government relations for the relief group Samaritan’s Purse (SP). “The international response has been a failure, and it’s important to understand that.”
He said SP’s experts believe the official epidemic case numbers from the World Health Organization (WHO) represent only 25% to 50% of the true numbers. Yesterday the WHO put the Ebola total for Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria at 1,711 cases and 932 deaths.
“The governments simply do not have the capacity to handle the crisis in their countries,” Isaacs added. “If a mechanism isn’t found to create a paradigm for the international community to get involved, the world will effectively relegate the containment of this disease to three of the poorest nations in world.”
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