Obama To Announce Major Offensive Against Ebola

Following the unabated increase in number of deaths recorded so far from the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, in West Africa, United States President, Barack Obama, is expected to announce on Tuesday a plan to boost his country’s involvement in the war against the deadly disease.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the plan would involve a greater involvement of the U.S military in tackling the worst recorded outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.It would be recalled that the U.S government recently announced that it has already committed around $100 million to tackle the outbreak by providing protective equipment for healthcare workers, food, water, medical and hygiene equipment.  
According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, the Ebola outbreak has now killed at least 2,400 people, mostly in Liberia, neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone. The details of the new plan are expected during Obama’s visit Tuesday to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. This is coming barely days after Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf appealed to Obama for urgent aid, saying that without it her country would lose the fight against the disease. There’s a lot that we’ve been putting toward this, but it is not sufficient,” Lisa Monaco, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, told the Journal. “So the president has directed a more scaled-up response and that’s what you’re going to hear more about on Tuesday. The WHO warned a couple of weeks ago that the Ebola outbreak is spreading increasingly in Liberia, where more than half of the deaths have been recorded. Meanwhile, the U.S. military said recently that it would build a 25-bed portable hospital unit in Liberia to help treat health workers infected by Ebola. We think these measures, this enhanced response, will help us bring this under control,” a White House official told the Journal. “The military has unique capabilities in terms of logistical capacities, in terms of manpower, in terms of operating in austere environments.” Apart from Liberia, no fewer than seven people have died in Nigeria from the Ebola virus disease since the late Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyer brought the virus to Lagos on 20 July, and died on 25 July, 2014

Latest reports indicate that Obama could on Tuesday ask Congress for an additional $88 million to fund his new proposal.