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| Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, right, demonstrates how to wash hands properly in order to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus earlier this summer. Sirleaf appealed to the U.S. for help fighting the epidemic. (Abbas Dulleh/Associated Press) |
West African countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak are falling short on treatment and infection control measures because of a lack of resources and medical staff.
In Liberia, the country that has recorded the highest number of Ebola cases and deaths, officials on Saturday released a letter that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf sent this week to U.S. President Barack Obama appealing for a dramatic increase in support to address an emergency she said "threatens civil order."
Sirleaf described how her country's health system had been swiftly overwhelmed by the outbreak, and how doctors were afraid to go to work after seeing their colleagues die. "Diseases that were treated with relative ease pre-Ebola now take lives because of the pall that Ebola has cast over our health system," she said.
In the letter dated Tuesday, Sirleaf asked for the U.S. to set up and operate at least one Ebola treatment unit in the capital, Monrovia, and to help restore services at 10 non-Ebola hospitals. She also requested help in maintaining "air bridges" to get supplies and personnel into the country, noting that many airlines have canceled flights in and out of Monrovia.
"I am being honest with you when I say that at this rate, we will never break the transmission chain and the virus will overwhelm us," Sirleaf said.
With files from AP
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