President Obama to Unveil Expanded Ebola Response
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Bumbasor/iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — President Obama plans to unveil Tuesday an expanded U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the worst outbreak of the disease in history.
Obama, who has called the outbreak a national security priority, will outline new steps to address the crisis during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
According to senior administration officials, the ramped up military effort centers on command and control, logistics, training and engineering support.
They new steps include:
- Creating a joint force command headquarters in Monrovia, Liberia. By end of the week, the U.S. will have a general officer in place to lead the effort, known as “Operation United Assistance.”
- Providing engineers to build treatment units — up to 17 separate facilities with 100 beds each.
- Training support for health care workers, up to 500 health care workers per week, for as long as needed (although budgeting plans for a six-month period). Training will come from U.S. military medical personnel. The administration hopes to have force on the ground in a couple of weeks. After this scaling up is done, the expectation is for there to be up to 3,000 Defense Department personnel on the ground in support of the joint force command.
- Working to boost a messaging campaign to train households on how to protect themselves and help family members that may present symptoms. To pay for the mission, the administration is asking for $88 million be added to the CR; $175 million has already been dedicated. The Defense Department has requested the reprogramming of $500 million in unobligated funds to be put towards the Ebola response.
As of Sept. 16, there were 4,985 probable, confirmed and suspected cases in the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa, with 2,461 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The countries affected are Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
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