AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
European Leaders Scramble to Upgrade Response to Ebola Crisis
BRUSSELS ? When the Ebola virus was first identified in March as the cause of a series of mysterious deaths in the remote forests of Guinea, Europe moved quickly to battle a disease that has now infected more than 7,000 Africans and already killed around half of those. It mobilized more money and health workers than the United States, China or anyone else for West Africa......
....? many European officials and politicians welcomed the move and wondered why what had been a European-led international effort to contain the virus had clearly not worked.
.....Pressure to contain the epidemic has prompted European Union officials in Brussels to start meeting daily with aid groups and representatives from member states to discuss how to best respond to the crisis. Europe?s emergency response unit, housed in a drab Brussels office block, used to focus on monitoring natural disasters and wars, but now tracks Ebola around the clock.
?Speed is of the essence, and there is a feeling that all of us have been behind the curve,? Claus Sorensen, director general of Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, a department of the European Union?s Brussels administration, said in an interview.
.....Philippe Maughan, a European Union aid official who was recently in West Africa, said support to governments was vital because Ebola also kills indirectly by paralyzing hospitals and making it impossible for Africans with unrelated ailments to get treatment. ?If you drop on the street from a heart attack, nobody will touch you because they think you have Ebola,? he said.
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BRUSSELS ? When the Ebola virus was first identified in March as the cause of a series of mysterious deaths in the remote forests of Guinea, Europe moved quickly to battle a disease that has now infected more than 7,000 Africans and already killed around half of those. It mobilized more money and health workers than the United States, China or anyone else for West Africa......
....? many European officials and politicians welcomed the move and wondered why what had been a European-led international effort to contain the virus had clearly not worked.
.....Pressure to contain the epidemic has prompted European Union officials in Brussels to start meeting daily with aid groups and representatives from member states to discuss how to best respond to the crisis. Europe?s emergency response unit, housed in a drab Brussels office block, used to focus on monitoring natural disasters and wars, but now tracks Ebola around the clock.
?Speed is of the essence, and there is a feeling that all of us have been behind the curve,? Claus Sorensen, director general of Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, a department of the European Union?s Brussels administration, said in an interview.
.....Philippe Maughan, a European Union aid official who was recently in West Africa, said support to governments was vital because Ebola also kills indirectly by paralyzing hospitals and making it impossible for Africans with unrelated ailments to get treatment. ?If you drop on the street from a heart attack, nobody will touch you because they think you have Ebola,? he said.
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