UN chief appoints special envoys for Ebola

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the appointment of David Nabarro as his special envoy for Ebola and Anthony Banbury as his special representative and head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).

In his vital role, Nabarro will "provide strategic and policy direction for a greatly enhanced international response and will galvanise essential support for affected communities and countries", Xinhua reported citing Ban's spokesman.

With more than 30 years' experiences in public health, nutrition and development work at country, regional and global levels, Britain's Nabarro has held positions in non-governmental organisations, universities, national governments and the UN system.

Under Banbury's leadership, UNMEER, the new mission, will "provide the operational framework and unity of purpose to ensure the rapid, effective and coherent action necessary to stop the Ebola outbreak, to treat the infected, to ensure essential services, to preserve stability and to prevent the spread to countries currently unaffected", the announcement said.

Banbury brings more than 25 years of experiences in political, peacekeeping, and emergency management roles across several different regions and organisations, said the spokesman.

Nabarro and Banbury will work closely in support of the governments in the region and other partners in pursuit of these critical objectives.

These appointments follow the recent unanimous adoption of Security Council Resolution 2177 and a General Assembly resolution on the Ebola virus disease outbreak. They were made following close consultations with Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

According to the WHO, 5,843 cases and 2,803 deaths have been reported in the current outbreak by the health ministries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.