UN announces closure of emergency mission for Ebola

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Friday announced the closure of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).

The first-ever UN emergency health mission was established in September 2014 with its headquarters set in Ghana to meet immediate needs related to the fight against the unprecedented outbreak of Ebola in West Africa and is closed on July 31, 2015.

"The Mission has achieved its core objective of scaling up the response on the ground and establishing unity of purpose among responders in support of the nationally led efforts," said Ban in a statement released by his spokesperson.

"As we continue to actively strive to end the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, we have reached an important milestone in the global Ebola response," he noted.

As of Aug. 1, oversight of the UN system's Ebola emergency response will fully be led by the World Health Organization (WHO), under the direct authority of the WHO director-general, according to the statement.

In addition, Ban has maintained the high-level Ebola crisis managers in the hardest-hit countries under the oversight of WHO and with the support of the UN resident coordinators and UN country teams to get to zero cases, according to the statement.

The Ebola outbreak swept through the West Africa last year. Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia are the three hardest-hit countries in the region.

According to the latest WHO Ebola situation report, there were seven confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease reported in the week to July 26: four in Guinea and three in Sierra Leone. This is the lowest weekly total for over a year.