US President Barack Obama has given assurances that the city is taking "the appropriate precautions" to protect against the spread of Ebola ahead of the first US-Africa Leaders Summit, which starts here Monday. Obama is set to host the three-day event for heads of state from across the continent, with a focus on "strengthening ties between the United States and one of the world's most dynamic and fastest growing regions," according to a White House statement released late on Friday.
"Africa, that's one of our top priorities. We want to do business with those folks," Obama told reporters. "And we think that we can create U.S. jobs and send U.S. exports to Africa. But we've got to be engaged, and so this gives us a chance to do that." The summit also "gives us a chance to talk to Africa about security issues because as we've seen, you know, terrorist networks try to find places where governance is weak and security structures are weak," he said. "One of the things that we can do is make sure that we are partnering with some countries that really have pretty effective security forces and have been deploying themselves in peacekeeping and conflict resolution efforts in Africa." While more than a dozen senior delegations make their way here next week, the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa has changed the way Washington welcomes leaders from the region.
"Folks who are coming from these countries that have even a marginal risk or an infinitesimal risk of having been exposed in some fashion, we're making sure we're doing screening on that end of -- as they leave the country," Obama told reporters. "We'll do additional screening when we're here. We feel confident that the procedures that we put in place are appropriate." "Keep in mind that Ebola is not something that is easily transmitted," he acknowledged. "That's why generally outbreaks dissipate. But the key is identifying, quarantining, isolating those who contract it and making sure that practices are in place that avoid transmission." The president added that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other health agencies in the US "are going to be working very intently with the World Health Organization and some of our partner countries to make sure that we can surge some resources down there and organization to these countries that are pretty poor and don't have the strong public health infrastructure so that we can start containing the problem." The hemorrhagic fever has killed 729 people of the more than 1,300 infected since March. The World Health Organization said the fast-moving outbreak was causing "catastrophic" loss of life in the affected countries of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
Source: KUNA