Health workers wearing protective clothing prepare themselves before carrying an abandoned body presenting with Ebola symptoms at Duwala market in Monrovia August 17, 2014.Reuters
A key international doctors group is warning that the world is "losing the battle" against Ebola and UN officials are imploring all countries to step up their response by sending help to affected countries.
Doctors Without Borders President Joanne Liu says her organization is completely overwhelmed as it treats Ebola patients in four West African countries. She is calling on countries with biological disaster response capacity to respond with civilian and military medical personnel.
"Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it," Liu said at a United Nations forum on the outbreak. "Ebola treatment centres are reduced to places where people go to die alone, where little more than palliative care is offered."
World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan says the United Nations is urgently scaling up its response and called on all countries to contribute to the effort. David Nabarro, who is co-ordinating the UN's response to the Ebola crisis, says the UN is "bringing in as many outside health workers as much as we can."