MOSCOW, November 6 (RIA Novosti) — The United Nations lacks the necessary resources to defeat Ebola in West Africa, Tony Banbury, head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response said Thursday.
"This disease is still a crisis in some areas, there is no doubt about it. There are people, villages, towns, areas that are not getting any type of help right now. And we definitely do not have the response capability on the ground now, from the international community, from the world to defeat this disease yet. It's not here yet," Banbury said in an interview with BBC.
"We need more resources so we can cover more areas so we can defeat the disease wherever it is," he added.
Answering a question about whether the previously announced goal of having 70 percent of all Ebola patients under proper medical care by December would be reached, Banbury said that "we are definitely moving in the right direction," though it is "too early to say if we will get there".
Though not able to make any specific predictions on when the United Nations would be able to curb the disease, Banbury stated that it would take "less than years" and that the goal was to bring infection numbers down to zero. "One case is one case too many. One case is a threat to that community, that country, the region and the world," he stressed.
The worst Ebola epidemic in history is currently taking place in West Africa. According to the latest World Health Organization estimates, more than 4,800 people have lost their lives in the outbreak and over 13,000 cases of confirmed or suspected infection have been registered.
