President Barack Obama urged the world on Thursday to accelerate its response to the growing Ebola outbreak in West Africa, asking leaders to immediately contribute aid and funding in order to prevent more deaths.
"The slope of the curve, how fast we can arrest the spread of this disease, is within our control and if we move fast, even if imperfectly, then that could mean the difference between ten, twenty, thirty thousands of deaths, or even millions of deaths," he said at a United Nations meeting in New York City. "Everybody's gotta move fast in order for us to make a difference. If we do, we'll stop hundreds of thousands of lives."
The United States expanded its plan to stem the virus earlier this month, promising the deployment of 3,000 troops, including engineers and medical personnel, to the area, and establishing a regional command and control center in Liberia's capital, Monrovia. The plan also includes the building of 17 new treatment centers and the training of thousands of health care workers to operate them.
Obama called for an urgent global response, warning that the United States would not be able to shoulder the burden alone.
"We'll do our part, we'll continue our part. We cannot do this alone. We do not have the capacity to do all of this by ourselves," he said.
"I hope that I'm properly communicating a sense of urgency here," he added.
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