During his visit to the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Tuesday, President Obama announced a new course of action the U.S. will take in the fight against the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This plan comes after complaints from those on the frontlines in the fight against the virus that there has been an inadequate response by the U.S. and other able nations. The World Health Organization (WHO), local governments, and aid groups all in agreeance the epidemic is currently out of hand. In his speech on Tuesday, Obama described it as “spiraling out of control.”
The new plan will be an estimated $763 million expansion of the current aid from the U.S., according to USA Today. A training program will be set up in order to train 500 health care workers a week. Medecins Sans Frontieres (French for “Doctors Without Borders”) called medical staff the greatest need by far at present. Along with the training program, the U.S. will also be building 17 new Ebola treatment centers, as all Ebola treatment centers are currently full. As soon as new treatment centers open they are immediately filled, according to the WHO.
Obama has committed 3,000 additional military personnel to be sent to Liberia to carry out the aid efforts. According to CNN, the Liberian leadership requested the help of the U.S. military with civilian efforts in Liberia. Major General Darryl Williams, the commander of the U.S. Army Africa, will be leading the effort from Monrovia, the Liberian capital. Operation United Assistance, the name assigned to this effort, will also involve what Obama is calling an “air bridge”, making medical supplies and health care workers more accessible to the region.
Officials say this is not a U.S. takeover of the aid effort, but instead it is an example other countries should follow. According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. are to host an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council this upcoming week to seek commitments from other nations and generate an effective plan for moving forward in the fight against Ebola.
On Tuesday, Obama addressed the fact that the response from the international community needs to be prompt, saying, “We can save lives. But we have to act fast.” U.S. officials have acknowledged Obama’s announcement on Tuesday is a reflection of the fact that there is currently not enough being done in the effort against the virus. The hope is that this surge of aid from the U.S. will be a turning point in the Ebola epidemic. During Obama’s announcement, he stated how we fight the disease is “not a mystery,” and called for a global response to follow the lead of the U.S. The WHO estimates it will take $1 billion to get ahead of the virus and control it.
Laurie Garrett, a global health and infectious disease expert at the Council on Foreign Relations said, “To get ahead of the virus, we need to have a massive presence on the ground yesterday.” Whether or not this is too little too late is still up in the air. Experts say if nothing more is done, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands infected. BBC News says some disease experts are questioning the focus of the U.S. effort on Liberia, believing it to be too narrow as the disease has spread beyond Liberia and continues to spread. While there is still skepticism about the sufficiency of this effort by the U.S., most non-government organizations are optimistic after Obama’s announcement Tuesday.
Obama’s announcement is, in part, a response to concerned Americans who are worried about the virus spreading into the U.S. The White House said, “The Ebola epidemic in West Africa and the humanitarian crisis there is a top national security priority for the United States.” The U.S. continues to talk about this epidemic as a global security issue as opposed to a health crisis.