HEALTH-EBOLA/WORLDBANK World Bank chief sees mixed progress in West Africa Ebola battle

Record ID: 565662

  • Title: HEALTH-EBOLA/WORLDBANK World Bank chief sees mixed progress in West Africa Ebola battle
  • Date: 5th November 2014
  • Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (NOVEMBER 5, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WORLD BANK GROUP PRESIDENT JIM YONG KIM SPEAKING TO REPORTERS AT INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD BANK GROUP PRESIDENT JIM YONG KIM SAYING: "There's some good news coming out of Liberia, in terms of reduced number of cases, at least coming to the hospitals, but then there is more concerning news coming out of Sierra Leone, where regions that were thought to be under control have now seen a surge in cases and this is what we see with Ebola. We see drops and then we see surges." MORE OF KIM SPEAKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD BANK GROUP PRESIDENT JIM YONG KIM SAYING: "So the effort is going to take a long time. The effort is going to require lots -- as I've said before -- thousands of health workers and we need countries to step up right now to provide those workers so that we can begin really tackling the end game, which is to get to zero in each of these three countries." INTERVIEW IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA53YVK8SM4CPQ8GVMHZD88CVV2
  • Story Text: World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on Wednesday (November 5) reported mixed progress in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa.
    In an interview with Reuters in Seoul, he pointed to encouraging signs in Liberia and a more worrying trend in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
    "There's some good news coming out of Liberia, in terms of reduced number of cases, at least coming to the hospitals, but then there is more concerning news coming out of Sierra Leone, where regions that were thought to be under control have now seen a surge in cases and this is what we see with Ebola. We see drops and then we see surges," Kim said.
    Some 5,000 people have been killed during the current Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, with most of the fatalities in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
    "So the effort is going to take a long time. The effort is going to require lots - as I've said before - thousands of health workers and we need countries to step up right now to provide those workers so that we can begin really tackling the end game, which is to get to zero in each of these three countries," Kim added.
    On Wednesday, Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the country would fund an Ebola treatment clinic in Sierra Leone, responding to pressure from the World Bank to do more to tackle the deadly outbreak at its source.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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