Liberia thanks international community for Ebola response

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on Tuesday thanked the world for its outpouring of support and assistance during the Ebola crisis raging West Africa last year.

"We remain grateful to all of you for the outpouring of support and assistance as we faced down the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, the greatest modern threat to global public health," she said while addressing the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly. The annual high-level debate entered its second day here Tuesday.

Johnson-Sirleaf said that the Ebola response exemplifies the capacity of the United Nations to respond to threats to collective threats to humanity.

"As we ponder -- in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, three countries worst-hit by the deadly Ebola Virus Disease -- we bear witness to the foundational creed of the United Nations -- that we can always find it within our humanity to respond even to unknown enemies to our collective progress," she said.

Undoubtedly, "the Ebola scourge leaves indelible marks of grief, sorrow and unimaginable affliction," she said. "But it has also caused us to celebrate heartwarming tales of extraordinary courage and leadership across governments and communities as well as exceptional regional and international cooperation."

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Liberia free of Ebola on Sept. 3, 2015. In total there were 10,672 recorded cases of Ebola in Liberia and 4,808 deaths, according to the WHO. Endit