100 tons of supplies to fight Ebola sent to West Africa
Liz Szabo
USA TODAY
September 21, 2014
Humanitarian groups have sent nearly $6 million in medical supplies to West Africa to help in the fight against Ebola.
The airlift left Saturday from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on a chartered Boeing 747 airplane bound for communities in Liberia and Sierra Leone, two of the countries hardest hit in the Ebola outbreak.
The 100 tons of supplies include gloves, masks, gowns, goggles, saline, antibiotics, oral rehydration solution and pain killers. Ebola can cause excruciating pain, as well as severe vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding, making it important to offer pain relief and to rehydrate patients as quickly as possible.
“We must do all we can to reduce further the human tragedy caused by this deadly outbreak and help communities avoid an even deeper setback than has occurred already,” said Chief Executive Thomas Tighe of Direct Relief, which helped organize the airlift.
Basic medical supplies are in short supply in countries where Ebola has hit. Many hospitals lack even running water and soap, according to officials from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who testified about the epidemic on Capitol Hill this past week.
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