UN to establish Ebola crisis centre to stop virus spread

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that the world organisation is going to establish an Ebola crisis centre to stop the spread of the virus in six-nine months.

Ban made the announcement after a meeting on the Ebola epidemic with senior leaders and experts from across the UN system, including World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan, and Senior UN System Coordinator for Ebola, David Nabarro, Xinhua reported.

"We are together today to send out an international rescue call, " Ban told reporters. "What began as a public health emergency is evolving into a social and economic challenge for millions."

"At the meeting we have just held, we agreed to establish an Ebola crisis centre to bring synergy and efficiency to the efforts of these many partners within and beyond the United Nations," he said.

"The goal is to stop Ebola transmission in affected countries within six to nine months, and to prevent the international spread of the virus," Ban added.

According to WHO, more than 1,900 people have now died in West Africa since the outbreak of Ebola early this year and that there were about 3,500 confirmed cases in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and many heads of agencies and funds and programmes, such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), also joined the Friday's teleconference via video.