Monica Mark of The Guardian UK is reporting that out of all nations, Cuba has sent the largest medical force to West Africa in order to fight Ebola. The United Nations (UN) has issued a call for more countries to contribute to the humanitarian effort in the fight against the infectious disease, plaguing West Africa where reportedly more than 4,500 people have died. Mark writes:
“But big hitters such as China or Brazil, or former colonial powers such France and the UK, have not been stepping up to the plate. Instead, the single biggest medical force on the Ebola frontline has been a small island: Cuba.
That a nation of 11 million people, with a GDP of $6,051 per capita, is leading the effort says much of the international response. A brigade of 165 Cuban health workers arrived in Sierra Leone last week, the first batch of a total of 461. In sharp contrast, western governments have appeared more focused on stopping the epidemic at their borders than actually stemming it in west Africa. The international effort now struggling to keep ahead of the burgeoning cases might have nipped the outbreak in the bud had it come earlier.”
The Ebola epidemic has killed more than 4,500 people since it was detected in March, most of them in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Read more at The Guardian (UK).
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