Ghana's President Mahama lauds Liberia for overcoming Ebola

President John Dramani Mahama commended Liberia on Tuesday for overcoming the scourge of the Ebola Virus Disease.

This followed the May 9 declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) that Liberia was free from the Ebola virus.

The WHO declaration came after a 42-day period (twice the maximum incubation period of 21 days) without any new reported case.

In a message posted on his Twitter handle, Mahama welcomed the news and commended Liberians for their fight.

The Ghanaian president also commended the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) and the 42 Ghanaian Health Volunteers who worked in the affected countries for their efforts which had contributed to the feat.

"Giant progress in the fight against Ebola: Congratulations Liberia, UNMEER & the 42 Ghanaian Health Volunteers," President Mahama posted.

Out of the 26,000 cases of the disease which broke out in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia last year, 11,079 people died, according to the WHO.

Although Nigeria, Mali and Senegal had had isolated cases of the disease due to travels by infected people into those countries, the cases did not escalate into full blown epidemics as in the three most affected countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Addressing the UN last year, Mahama called for international action against the virulent disease which had threatened to engulf the west coast of Africa.

The UN responded by establishing UNMEER with headquarters in Ghana to push logistics and medical assistance to the affected countries.

In addition to that, President Mahama, who chairs the sub- regional bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has also been pushing for total debt cancellation for the three worst affected countries. Endi