Washington: President Barack Obama on Friday named an "Ebola czar" to coordinate the US response to the deadly virus, as Secretary of State John Kerry called for collective global action to deal with the raging health crisis.
Attorney Ron Klain was appointed as an "Ebola czar" by Obama to coordinate the US response to the Ebola outbreak, amid growing fear over its spread beyond West Africa.
The Democratic aide would ensure that "efforts to protect the American people by detecting, isolating and treating Ebola patients in this country are properly integrated but don't distract from the aggressive commitment to stopping Ebola at the source in West Africa,"a White House official said.
The new "Ebola czar" will report directly to Obama's Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco and National Security Advisor Susan Rice.
"Monaco, Rice and others have done outstanding work in confronting this challenge so far -- but given their management of other national and homeland security priorities, additional bandwidth will further enhance the government's Ebola response," the White House official said.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Kerry on Friday said that a collective global response is required to adequately address the Ebola crisis.
"If we don't adequately address this current outbreak now, then Ebola has the potential to become a scourge like HIV or polio, that we will end up fighting, all of us, for decades," Kerry said during a briefing on US response to Ebola.
"We shouldn't kid ourselves. Winning this fight is going to be costly, it is going to take all of our efforts, and it is not risk-free," he said.
"Meeting this crisis is going to require that we draw on each other's collective experience and our collective capacities. No one country, no individual group of nations is going to resolve this problem by themselves. This is going to take a collective, global response, all hands on deck. That's the only way to get it done," he added.
Comments
0 comment