Ebola toll hits 4,493: WHO
United Nations : The toll in the deadly Ebola virus disease in West Africa has hit 4,493 according to latest World Health Organisation (WHO) data.
The latest figures from WHO report a total of 8,997 cases in seven countries, and 4,493 deaths,” told UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Thursday, adding that healthcare workers have been paying a heavy price in the fight against Ebola “with 427 infected and 236 dead”.
“The total number of operational laboratories in the three West African countries will increase in the coming weeks, as a Russian mobile laboratory becomes operational in Guinea, and a Public Health England laboratory begins to provide diagnostic testing in the Western Rural area of Sierra Leone,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) also warns that Ebola is wiping out gains in safe motherhood made in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.”An estimated 800,000 women in these three countries should give birth in the next 12 months but many pregnant women are afraid to visit or turned away from overstretched health facilities,” he said.
UNFPA has said that USD 64.5 million is needed to provide reproductive and maternal health services in the next three months, he said.
