UN calls for $1bn to fight Ebola outbreak

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• As WHO says Liberia must wait weeks or months for new Ebola centres

More than $1bn (£618m) is needed to fight the West Africa Ebola outbreak – a tenfold increase in the past month, the UN’s Ebola co-ordinator has said.
David Nabarro made the announcement as the World Health Organization (WHO) described the health crisis as “unparalleled in modern times”.
It has killed 2,461 people this year, half of the 4,985 infected by the virus, the global health body said.
There has been criticism of the slow international response to the epidemic.

Later, the US president is to announce plans to send 3,000 troops to Liberia, one of countries worst-affected by the outbreak, to help fight the virus.
It is understood the US military will oversee building new treatment centres and help train medical staff.
The outbreak began in Guinea before spreading to its neighbours Sierra Leone and Liberia, reports the BBC.
Nigeria and Senegal have reported some cases, but seem to have contained the transmission of the virus.
“We requested about $100m a month ago and now it is $1bn, so our ask has gone up 10 times in a month,” Nabarro told a briefing in Geneva.
“Because of the way the outbreak is advancing, the level of surge we need to do is unprecedented, it is massive.”
Meanwhile, the Ebola response in Liberia, the country worst hit by the outbreak, will focus on community-level care units since new bed spaces are unlikely to be ready for weeks or months, World Health Organisation Assistant Director General Bruce Aylward said on Tuesday.
The WHO still has a goal to “bend the curve” in total Ebola case numbers across West Africa within three months, but some areas may be free of the disease sooner, he said.
“You definitely want to get Nigeria and Senegal obviously done quickly. In some capitals – Freetown, Conakry – we should be able to get those free in the near term. Guinea should be able to get most of the country free in the very near term as well,” Aylward said.
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