No one is safe from Ebola's reach, Kenya's envoy declares at UN
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa must be seen as a humanitarian disaster threatening international peace and security, Kenya's United Nations (UN) envoy declared on Friday.
“No one is safe” from the reach of the often-fatal disease, warned Ambassador Macharia Kamau in a speech to the UN General Assembly.
“The response must be commensurate to the challenge,” he said following the General Assembly's adoption of a resolution calling for the UN to respond rapidly, coherently and effectively to the crisis.
It is vital to ensure that the countries hardest hit by Ebola are not isolated, Kamau added.
He noted that Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs had announced a government review of the ban on flights to and from affected countries.
The government has put in place a national Ebola preparedness programme, he told the General Assembly, adding that Kenya has donated a total of $1 million to help Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone respond to the outbreak.
