HIGHLIGHTS
There have been 13,703 cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD), with 4,920 deaths, up to the end of 27 October.
WHO indicated a downward turn in the number of infections, while cautioning it was premature to draw conclusions from that development.
US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power concluded her visit to west Africa in Ghana, where she met with SRSG Banbury in UNMEER headquarters in Accra.
Key Political and Economic Developments
1 . US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power visited the headquarters of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response in Ghana on Wednesday. She met with Special Representative Anthony Banbury and the mission’s senior leadership. SRSG Banbury briefed the Ambassador on UNMEER’s operational framework and the main lines of action of the effort to contain Ebola, and both agreed on the importance of rapidly upscaling the response. In a press conference afterwards,
Ms. Power said the US government is committed to reversing the rising curve of infections and deaths caused by EVD, and that “UNMEER is a critical weapon in the battle to stop Ebola at its source so that it is contained and defeated.” SRSG Banbury added that while he is seeing some progress in the effort to contain EVD, the mission is short of money and the trained workers necessary to make a significant dent in West Africa. He stressed the need for trained medical personnel, as well as material and funding.
2 . On a visit to some hard-hit areas, President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone said several treatment centers are currently being built around the country, but that the battle will only be won when people start following experts' advice: avoid touching the sick or the dead, don't wash the bodies of the dead and quickly report to health centers if you fall ill.
3 . Filipino peacekeepers who will return from the UN mission in Liberia in November because of the threat of EVD will be quarantined at a military camp for 21 days. There is no report of any of the peacekeepers being infected with EVD.
