Kerry, Hammond urge all countries to respond to Ebola challenge

In a joint appearance with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday issued an "urgent plea" to countries in the world to step up even further in the battle against Ebola.
"While we are making progress, we are not where we can say that we need to be, and there are additional needs that have to be met in order for the global community to be able to properly respond to this challenge and to make sure that we protect people in all of our countries," Kerry said at the State Department.
"We need Ebola treatment units, we need health care workers, we need Medevac capacity, we need mobile laboratory and staff, we need non-medical support; telecommunications, generators, incinerators, public communications capacity, training, construction," Kerry said.
"We also need large assistance of health system strengthening, of cash that countries could contribute, budget support, food, other humanitarian efforts. And we need ways of getting that equipment to people. All of these things are, frankly, urgent in order to be able to quickly move to contain the spread of Ebola.
"We need airlines to continue to operate in West Africa, and we need borders to remain open," he said. "And we need to strengthen the Medevac capacity. We need countries to contribute more Ebola treatment centers. And we need other African countries with the capacity to send responders to join the effort. And we need to make sure that the health care workers who go are properly trained, properly equipped and supported in order to prevent additional infections." More countries can and must step up in order to make their contributions felt, Kerry said, "and every nation has an ability to do something on the Ebola challenge." "We have a shortfall still of some USD 300 million," he said. The United Nations has identified USD 1 billion in urgent needs... The World Bank has put in 22 percent. The USA has put in 11 percent, private sector 10 percent.
"Now is the time for action, not words, and frankly, there is not a moment to waste in this effort," he added.
Hammond said the disease is an unprecedented threat that knows no borders.
"We have to get ahead of this disease," Hammond said. "But if we get ahead of it, if we rise to the challenge, we can contain it and beat it. We know how to do this. It is not complicated to do. It just requires a large focus of resource and effort to deliver it." Britain has committed more than USD 200 million to the Ebola effort in Sierra Leone, he noted.
"We have military and civilian teams on the ground, a construction program to deliver 700 Ebola treatment beds," Hammond said. "This morning I joined a Cobra emergency committee leading in London by video link from the British embassy here, and we decided at that meeting to deploy Royal Fleet Auxiliary Argus to Freetown with three Merlin helicopters embarked to provide a communication and transport capability on the ground." British officials also are conducting trials in Sierra Leone of a new model of Ebola care unit -- a primary care triaging system for those with early-stage symptoms of Ebola, he said.