Top UN coordinator in Ebola battle heads to Washington, West Africa

The recently appointed chief coordinator in the UN system to battle the Ebola virus on Tuesday said his role is to support people and their communities while strengthening and responding to the governments of the countries affected by the deadly disease, focusing on health-care workers.

Dr. David Nabarro, who also speculated the disease may have a " security impact," was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon last week to serve as the senior UN system coordinator on Ebola Virus.

The chief UN spokesman, Stephane Dujarric said earlier on Tuesday that 2, 240 people have been infected and 1,229 died from Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Meeting with reporters at UN headquarters in New York, Nabarro said he spent Tuesday meeting with senior UN officials and was heading to Washington where he planned to meet with officials of the World Bank and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

He was traveling Wednesday evening "directly to West Africa" with Dr. Keiji Fukuda, assistant director of the UN's World Health Organization (WHO).

"I will start a program in West Africa together with some of our colleagues working with governments and others to establish what are the best ways in which our whole UN system can support people, communities and governments affected by Ebola virus disease," Nabarro said.

"Our fundamental role here is one of supporting people and their communities and also of strengthening and responding to the governments of the countries that are affected by Ebola virus disease," he said. "Right at the center of this is the health sector."

By that Nabarro explained that he was referring to "those who are concerned with helping people to avoid infection, to cope with infection and not to pass infection on to others. So, enabling health sector workers to do their job is the center."

"At the same time this disease is affecting how societies work, " he said. "It's affecting social settings; it's affecting economies; it's affecting governance. It's got humanitarian consequences; it's got political repercussions, it may have a security impact."

"A really comprehensive support operation is necessary that involves all the different assets, tools, capacities in our United Nations system," Nabarro said. "We need to be sure that people who are affected with Ebola virus do not transmit it on to other parts of the world and that is also a key part of our role."

"Security implications were being studied," he said, adding that security comes into question when there is a "breakdown in government services" triggered by the impact of Ebola. When that happens, governments "need to get back up and running as soon as possible (to) reduce insecurity."

"There are a number of potential treatments and also vaccines for Ebola virus disease that are being looked at and so I am very pleased, indeed, that the WHO is looking at ways in which access can be fast tracked," Nabarro said. "That of course has got to be done in a way that does not short-cut the proper procedures for developing new therapies and vaccines. Clearly this is super- important and I am totally committed to what WHO is doing."

When asked about the maltreatment of people who have survived an infection of Ebola -- the fatality rate is near 50 percent -- he said, "People who have experienced this disease and who have recovered are not only fortunate people but they are also very brave people. They should be welcomed as all others who have recovered from disease."

"I believe we need to remember that this disease is only transmissible if you actually touch and have contact with body fluids from an infected person and so it is not appropriate that people should be shunned in this way," Nabarro said.