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Political differences delayed quick response to Ebola crisis: officials

Xinhua, May 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Senior officials from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone told a United Nations high level panel that political differences contributed to delay in quick response to the Ebola pandemic in the three countries, a statement said on Wednesday.

The statement issued by the Directorate of Communications at State House in Dar es Salaam said the Permanent Representatives to the United Nations of the three western African countries said poverty, shattered public health systems and rival politics compromised the fight against Ebola which killed thousands of people in the region.

They said this in New York during talks with members of the UN Secretary-General's High Level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crises which was chaired by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, said the statement availed to Xinhua.

Since Monday, Kikwete and the panel have been meeting with different people, especially those who have been helping in diffusing the current Ebola crisis.

The panel working at UN headquarters in New York with eminent members from Brazil, the United States, Botswana, Indonesia and Switzerland has been tasked by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to

find ways to quickly and effectively combat epidemics in the future.

Guinea's Ambassador to the UN Mamadi Toure told the panel that despite early discovery of the Ebola cases in his country, there was little they could do to stop it, said the statement.

"Our people were not well prepared on what to do. Then there was stiff political opposition, the citizens were adamant to follow the directions of government officials," Toure said.

He told the panel that some people refused to go to hospital for treatment, patients were hidden, and when people were asked not to eat wild animals they refused and caused the disease to spread quickly and devastate the countries.

All three representatives acknowledged that in the beginning there was a great deal of panic in their countries and for some time they were caught unaware of what to do to get out of the situation.

The panel members, appointed in individual capacities, have been tasked by Ban to present a report on how to strengthen national and international systems to prevent and manage future health crises taking into account lessons learned from the response to the outbreak of Ebola.

The UN secretary-general decided to appoint the panel following the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa, which escalated to become one of the largest global public heath crises in recent history, claiming thousands of lives and sickening many more with the devastating social-economic impacts.

The spread of the disease in the epicenter countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has highlighted the importance and urgency of strengthening the architecture and management of global heath crises in order to better address future outbreaks.

The UN secretary-general will then make the report available to the General Assembly, and undertake further action as appropriate. Endi