Updated 10:20 p.m. Moscow Time
UNITED NATIONS, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - US President Barack Obama on Thursday urged the international community to increase its consolidated efforts in the fight against the Ebola epidemic in Africa.
"There's still a significant gap between where we are and where we need to be," Obama told a special UN meeting on the Ebola outbreak in parts of West Africa.
"We know from experience that the response to an outbreak of this magnitude needs to be both fast and sustained – like a marathon, but run at the pace of a sprint. That's only possible if every nation and every organization does its part. And everyone has to do more," he said.
"International organizations have to move even faster, and mobilize partners on the ground as only they can. More nations need to contribute critical assets and capabilities," the US president added.
The current outbreak of Ebola, worst yet, started in southern Guinea at the end of 2013 and consequently spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. A separate outbreak, unrelated to the one in West Africa, is taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
There is no officially approved medication for the Ebola virus as of now, although such countries as Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan, are currently working on vaccines.
The death toll in the Ebola epidemic is currently climbing to 3,000. World Health Organization (WHO) projects 20,000 new cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa by November.
