[ 2014-08-28 ]

Contain Ebola but don't isolate affected countries- Mahama charges
ECOWAS Chairman and Ghana's president John Mahama
is calling for a change in strategy to fighting
the Ebola scourge which has claimed over 1,400
lives in the West African sub-region.

He said the new strategy must revolve around ways
of containing the disease and not necessarily to
isolate countries that have recorded cases of
Ebola.

Speaking at a conference in Accra to devise
strategies to contain the disease, President
Mahama said Ghana cannot look on while its
neighbours perish.

"We must implement containment measures but we
must not implement measures that isolate and
ostracise the affected countries.

"Excessive restriction of travel and border
closure will adversely affect the economies of
affected countries," he emphasised.

According to the president some health ministers
in the West African sub-region were unable to
attend the conference because of the
unavailability of flights.

"An African proverb says when your neighbour's
house is on fire you must go and help him to
quench it because, after it has consumed his house
it will spread to yours," the president
indicated.

He has therefore charged the Ghana Armed Forces to
cooperate with WHO to provide the staging post
from which the health supplies to the affected
countries will be distributed.

Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have all
recorded cases of Ebola with more than 2000 people
said to have been affected.

Source - MyjoyOnline

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