WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT ON LIBERIA AND NEW EBOLA CASES

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
May 09, 2015
Statement by the Press Secretary on Liberia

Today, the Republic of Liberia reached the important milestone of 42 days without reporting a new Ebola case, and we are pleased the World Health Organization was able to declare the end of the country’s current outbreak.  We congratulate the people of Liberia on reaching this important marker, and once again pledge our commitment to ending the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and helping to rebuild Liberia and other affected nations.  As President Obama said when Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visited the White House last month, “We’re proud to partner with you and we intend to see this through until the job is done.” While this milestone is important, the world must not forget that the Ebola outbreak still persists in neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea.  We must not let down our guard until the entire region reaches and stays at zero Ebola cases. And we must all work together to strengthen capacity around the world to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to outbreaks before they become epidemics.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S REMARKS ON EBOLA BEFORE MEETING WITH WEST AFRICAN LEADERS

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
April 15, 2015
Remarks by the President Before Meeting with West African Leaders on Ebola
CABINET ROOM
10:45 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I want to welcome Presidents Sirleaf, Koroma and Condé.  The United States has a long partnership with Liberia and Sierra Leone and Guinea -- partnerships that prove to be critical in the fight against Ebola.  We’re here to assess progress today and to look ahead.

We begin by noting the incredible losses that took place in all three countries.  More than 10,000 people have died from Ebola -- men, women and children.  On behalf of the American people, we want to express our deepest condolences to the families and recognize how challenging this has been for all the countries involved.

Under extraordinary circumstances, the people of these three countries have shown great courage and resolve, treating and taking care of each other, especially children and orphans.  The United States has been proud to lead an international effort to work with these three countries in a global response.

Last week, there were fewer than 40 new cases, so we’ve seen major progress.  In Liberia right now, there are zero cases.  In Sierra Leone and Guinea combined, there were fewer than 40 new cases last week and that’s around the lowest number in a year.  Now we’re focused on a shared goal, and that is getting to zero.  We can’t be complacent.  This virus is unpredictable.

We have to be vigilant, and the international community has to remain fully engaged in a partnership with these three countries until there are no cases of Ebola in these countries.  Health systems also have to be rebuilt to meet daily needs -- vaccines for measles, delivering babies safely, treating HIV/AIDS and malaria.  And with our Global Health Security Agenda, we intend to do more to prevent future epidemics.

So the Ebola epidemic has been also an economic crisis.  That’s part of the reason why these three presidents are here.  They’re going to be meeting with a number of the multilateral institutions -- the IMF and World Bank here in Washington.  There’s the challenge of restoring markets and agricultural growth, promoting investment and development.  So I’m going to be looking forward to hearing from them on how the United States can stand shoulder to shoulder with them to work hard to take this crisis and turn it into an opportunity to rebuild even stronger than before:  To strengthen administrative systems, public health systems, to continue the work that they’ve done in rooting out corruption, reinforcing democratic institutions -- all of which will be the foundation stones for long-term progress and prosperity.

So Madam President, Mr. Presidents, we are very grateful for the hard work that you’ve done.  We’re proud to partner with you and we intend to see this through until the job is done.

Thank you, everybody.

END

PRESS AVAILABILITY WITH SECRETARY KERRY AND LIBERIAN PRESIDENT ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Press Availability With President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
February 27, 2015

SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. I am extremely pleased to welcome Her Excellency, Dr. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, here to America and to the Department of State. President Sirleaf is a very distinguished world leader, the deserving recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, and the first woman elected head of state in Africa. And Madam President, we’re really delighted to have you here now at a moment of great importance to your country’s history. It obviously is a bittersweet combination of great accomplishment with great tragedy. And we are particularly proud of the close relationship between our nations.

I have valued the chance to talk with you this morning about where we are with respect to the Ebola crisis and also the future development challenges of your country, which are critical to recovering from the Ebola crisis, ensuring that the epidemic, obviously, is brought to a complete close. We are not there yet. We still have a challenge, even though enormous progress has been made. And we want to review the other issues that are on our bilateral agenda and we will shortly be meeting with President Obama at the White House. So Madam President, I think you would agree with me that this past year has taught us all something; there have been some lessons we have learned from this great challenge.

Particularly, first, the need to go all-in at the earliest sign of some kind of major outbreak of any deadly or infectious disease. The most effective action is preventative action, and delay or waiting can make the challenge just that much greater. Second, the critical need to upgrade the health infrastructure ensuring that countries have the backing that they need and the support they need, because the difference between rich and poor should not spell the difference between life and death. And the third lesson I think we’ve learned is the absolute importance of teamwork in responding to this kind of a crisis.

Now the last point, the value of teamwork, has been shown dramatically in recent months. In combatting the Ebola epidemic, the United States took a very vigorous, every-hand-on-deck approach with the leadership of President Obama, in order to immediately respond as strongly as possible, combined with the leadership that President Sirleaf provided in order to maximize Liberia’s own efforts with those of our partners.

And President Obama, as I think everybody knows, made a courageous decision early on to deploy 3,000 troops – American troops – at a time where there were questions about what would specifically be needed and how much could be done – in order to build treatment centers and assist in training health workers. The State Department, the USAID, the Center for Disease Control, the Department of Health and Human Services here in America all came together to play critical roles. And our assistance, including our food aid, totaled more than $1 billion. American NGOs were incredibly helpful. And the fact that the United States made such a broad commitment actually encouraged other countries to say we, too, need to join this fight, and they stepped up.

In responding to the crisis, the global community was indispensable. This was not something any one country was able to do by itself. But let me be clear: Our efforts, all of the global community’s efforts, would never have succeeded without the strong leadership in West Africa both at the national and at the local levels. And President Sirleaf herself was at the forefront of those leadership efforts. She acted with force and determination to educate her people about this disease, to marshal the resources, and to establish the right set of priorities and to make decisions on a daily basis that empowered the people who wanted to help to actually be able to do so.

So for their part, local healthcare workers risked, and in many cases gave their lives so that they could save many other lives and ease the pain of other people. Villagers and townspeople formed committees to set up hand-washing stations, quarantine households, to shield caregivers, to supervise burials, and to screen visitors. The result, quite frankly, has been absolutely astonishing. Last September, the CDC estimated by that this time – these were the estimates we were dealing with – more than a million cases might have been diagnosed. In fact, we are roughly at 1/50th of that number, and new cases in Liberia are down by more than 95 percent.

So this is remarkable news, good news at a moment where many people wonder about the ability of governance to be able to deliver good news at all. But the truth is as long as new infections are still being recorded, at even low levels, this cannot be declared over. Careful monitoring of every Ebola case and everyone in contact with infected patients is essential, and our goal is not to contain the disease, it is to defeat the disease. And that means zero new cases.

So today we continue to mourn the loss of so many people. But we’re also inspired by the difference that these months have made. Daily existence in Liberia and elsewhere in the region is no longer being held hostage to this disease. And body collection vehicles have disappeared from the streets. Schools that were closed have resumed classes. Liberia has reopened its borders and hope has returned to its citizens. And people, when they meet each other now, have begun shaking hands again.

So earlier this week the Millennium Development Corporation in Liberia signed a $2.8 million compact to assist with the recovery. And that was part of the conversation that the President and I had this morning. This is part of America’s ongoing commitment to Liberia, and it is one of – it is sort of a recognition of the fact that Liberia is also one of our staunchest allies in Africa.

Since the end of the civil war in 2003, the United States had invested more than 2 billion to help Liberia to rebuild and go forward. And even prior to the Ebola outbreak, the United States was the largest bilateral donor to Liberia’s health sector, working to increase the health sector capacity under programs such as the President’s malaria and global health initiatives, Feed the Future and the USAID Water and Development Strategy.

So Madam President, I’m told there’s an African proverb, “Rain does not fall on one roof alone.” And the meaning of that is obviously we’re all in this together. We have to stand together, and thousands of miles may separate our two countries, but for most of the past 168 years, the United States and Liberia have stood together, and that remains the case today. We both support democratic values and the development of inclusive societies. We both seek higher living standards through sustainable growth, and we share a commitment to human dignity and to peace both within and among nations.

So it’s been a great pleasure for me to able to share thoughts with you. I have admired you greatly and watched you from the distance, and we’ve said hello a couple times before, but I thank you today for the conversation we’ve had, and I look forward to continuing it at the White House shortly. Thank you, Madam President.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Mr. Secretary, I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to meet with you, to exchange views. I come also to express on behalf of the Liberian people our deep appreciation for the support which we have received as we continue to fight this deadly virus. We want to thank President Obama for the strong leadership which he has shown, for the call to action that he has made. We thank the Administration; we thank the Congress in a bipartisan way for the support they’ve given to the Administration’s call for their support. And we thank the many U.S. institutions – NIH, CDC, the public health service, DART – all of those; the faith-based institutions, the American public at large, that all came together in a very strong partnership with us to be able to address and to fight this disease.

Last year was a difficult year for Liberia because we had and already obtained 10 consecutive years of peace, we had solved a lot of the problems that came out of two decades of war. We had addressed our debt issue, we were rebuilding our institutions, repairing our infrastructure, putting in the laws and the strategies that would’ve enabled us to be able to meet our Vision 2030 agenda, our agenda for transformation. When Ebola struck, the chances of all of that being wiped away confronted us.

In the early days, we did not know what to do. We were fearful, people died, our nurses and doctors who tried to treat what they thought were ordinary diseases such as malaria and yellow fever were confronted with something that they had no answer for. And I’m sure many people that looked at the television screen and saw Liberia as a place of disaster, everything was going wrong. But our people were resilient, and they were determined that we were not going to die, we’re not going to lose our livelihoods, we’re not going to reverse the gains that we have made. And so we all came together. We came together with not much capacity, not much resources, but came together with a great determination to save our nation and to ensure that we seize back the future that we had so carefully built over the past years. We could not do it without the partnership.

And the partnership that came from the United States galvanized and crystallized an international partnership that joined the United States in doing this, and this is why our message – it was a bold action, as you said, for the Administration to send military people out there, to send soldiers. That’s not something – we’ve never had boots on the ground in Liberia. It was the first time. But the landing of that just sent a big message to the Liberian people that the United States was really with us, and they provided the kind of service that have enhanced the capability of our own military because they worked together in building those centers.

The United States never closed to Liberia, even though we know there were great pressure on the part of a fearful citizen here, and we understood their fears because this was an unknown enemy to all of us. But President Obama and the Administration, supported by the Congress, stood firm and said, “We will continue to work with Liberia. We’ll continue to do this.” He went to the United Nations – you were there, I believe.

SECRETARY KERRY: Yes.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIRLEAF: And you all took a very strong stance. That message that went to the global community also engaged them. And so today, because of this strong partnership, we can say that we haven’t reached a place where we say we’re free of this disease, because we have neighboring countries and they send you the same messages of thanks and appreciation. But we have the place where we’re now confident that going forward, we can indeed get to zero for the required period, and we can indeed rebuild our health infrastructure, start our economic recovery even now as we try to get to zero, promote the regional support that ensures that all of our countries are free as a means of removing the threat that will remain if none of our countries are free.

To you, to the American people, we say thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much for a very eloquent and very personal statement. We thank you, appreciate it. I think we’ll be ready to take a few questions.

MS. PSAKI: Yes. Abigail Williams from NBC will be asking the questions today.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what are your expectations for the second round of U.S.-Cuba talks here at the State Department today? Do you expect an embassy to be open within a matter of weeks or months? And the Cubans are saying that a precondition for opening or establishing full diplomatic relations is being removed from the state sponsor of terror list. Do you expect that to create a delay in opening the embassy, and why are they still on that list?

And Madam President, what more are you asking of the United States to help prepare for the next outbreak of a similar deadly disease?

SECRETARY KERRY: Do you want to go first? Go ahead, please.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We’re asking for a continuation of the partnership, first to help us get to zero, and that means supporting our regional initiative. We’re asking that we work together in a dialogue to look at our economic recovery that will strengthen our health infrastructure, that will get us to continue with our prioritization of agriculture to feed ourselves. Infrastructure – making sure that we have the roads and the power systems and the clean water systems now that our schools are open. That through dialogue, through understanding, this partnership can prepare Liberia not only to prevent any possible reoccurrence, but enable us to deliver better health services and a better life to our people.

SECRETARY KERRY: Let me just say that we are very committed to working with our friends from Liberia in order to be able to maximize the possibility of economic recovery, which is critical, and it requires bringing the private sector back, it requires addressing the energy sector, building health infrastructure. There are a lot of moving parts, but we certainly feel – and I know President Obama shares this – that having put so much effort into stopping the disease, and now we really want to try to help provide the future that provides hope and a sense of possibility, and we will continue to work on that.

With respect to Cuba and the state sponsorship of terrorism, even as we are standing here now, negotiations are going on upstairs to deal with the issue of renewal of diplomatic relations. That’s one set of fairly normal negotiations with respect to movement of diplomats, access, travel, different things, the very sort of technical process. The state sponsorship of terrorism designation is a separate process. It is not a negotiation. It is an evaluation that is made under a very strict set of requirements congressionally mandated, and that has to be pursued separately, and it is being pursued separately. And we will wait for that normal process to be completed. It requires a finding that, over the course of the last six-month period, the country in question has not been engaged in supporting, aiding, abetting – different language – international terrorist acts. And that evaluation will be made appropriately, and nothing will be done with respect to the list until the evaluation is completed.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you, everyone.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all. Thank you, Madam President.

SAMANTHA POWER'S REMARKS ON CAREER OF MARTEN GRUNDITZ

FROM:  THE STATE DEPARTMENT 
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations 
New York, NY
February 2, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Marten Grunditz’s career as a diplomat spanned more than four decades. He was first posted as an attaché to the Swedish Mission in Moscow in 1973, when it was still part of the Soviet Union. He went on to serve in Beijing, Washington, London, Geneva, Athens, and, of course, here in New York. He was a dexterous and deep diplomat.

Here at the UN, Ambassador Grunditz led the joint Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS, where he pressed for far-reaching reforms, such as the public disclosure of internal audits. He also chaired the Liberia Configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission, sounding the alarm bell early and ardently for the international community to respond to the spreading Ebola outbreak. He was also determined to ensure that Liberia and its neighbors were built back better – so what has befallen the people of that region never happens again.

Among the first impressions many of us had upon meeting Marten was his sheer physical presence. He towered above virtually all of us. But the Ambassador’s personality and the way he treated people had the opposite effect: it made him accessible; it brought him close. And this was not only the case for fellow ambassadors, but for everyone he interacted with – from the most junior intern to the most senior advisor, as well as to people of all walks and ranks at UN agencies and other missions.

A ranking diplomat on his staff who worked with Ambassador Grunditz for years observed that – when he chaired meetings during his time at the head of the joint Executive Board – he always made a point of thanking every secretary and member of the support staff who had helped organize the event. As this diplomat described it, Marten Grunditz had, “an ability to recognize people.” An ability to recognize people.

Ambassador Grunditz also knew how to listen. In diplomatic settings that can too often feel automated, he would actually stop and pay attention to people’s opinions and arguments. He would engage you, ask questions, probe. He treated everybody as if he had something to learn from them.

These qualities not only made the Ambassador an exceptional human being, but also, of course, an exceptional diplomat. Knowing how to recognize people, and how to listen to them, defined the way he interacted with individuals at his postings around the world, with people in this General Assembly hall, at the negotiating table, and in leadership positions at the UN.

And these qualities also defined what the Ambassador believed in. A person who sees people as they are, and knows how to hear them, is a natural humanitarian and a natural defender of human rights – as Ambassador Grunditz certainly was, believing to his core that no individual should be treated differently because she is a woman, because of who he or she loves, because of how he or she prays, or because of where she is born.

It is also these qualities that made Marten such a wonderful mentor to his staff. The respect with which he treated people at the Swedish Mission and in previous postings bred a deep loyalty and dedication in those who served under him. It is why, when the Swedish Mission put out a sign-up sheet for staffers to stand by his condolence book and receive visitors, the sheet filled up immediately, and multiple staffers showed up for each shift. It was their way of performing a final service to a man who had taught them so much, and to stand in his honor.

I witnessed that dedication the day Marten passed away. After a meeting hosted by the Swedish Foreign Minister Wallström, a young Swedish diplomat walked me to the elevator, her eyes filled up with tears and she said, “We can’t believe it…He was such a good man.” How right she was. And how shaped she will be, always, by the time that she got to watch him in action, and learn from him.

Ambassador Marten Grunditz gave nearly his entire professional career to the Swedish Foreign Service. It gave him back not only a chance to defend his values and serve his nation, but also led him to his life partner, Maine – who he met decades ago in the diplomatic corps – and who is here with us today. Along with one of the Ambassador’s two children, Genny.

As all of us in this line of work know diplomacy is not a solo occupation; our families serve with us; they weather the excessive hours and the stresses, and they sustain us. As Ambassador Grunditz’s career spanned decades, so did his family’s service alongside him. For that, we are so grateful to you – Maine, and to you, Genny, and of course to your son, Henrik, as well – and we hope that the immeasurable loss you must feel is softened ever so slightly by seeing the tremendous contribution Marten made to his country, to the United Nations, to the causes he believed in, and to all of us – who learned so much from his towering example. Thank you.

DOD THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY BUILDING RESPONSE TO EBOLA OUTBREAK

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
DoD Threat Reduction Agency Builds Anti-Ebola Capacity
By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2014 – The Defense Department agency whose mission is to reduce biological, chemical and other threats to troops worldwide began ramping up its response early in the Ebola outbreak and now, with many partners, is steadily building capabilities in Liberia as it extends capacity into Sierra Leone and Mali.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, known as DTRA, protects the United States and its allies from chemical, biological, nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.

The fast-moving nature of West Africa’s Ebola crisis, which so far accounts for 17,145 cases of Ebola virus disease and at least 6,070 deaths, according to the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has driven the need for constant, close collaboration within DTRA itself and among U.S. agencies, entities such as U.S. Africa Command, international organizations and private companies.

One of Many Stakeholders

DTRA Deputy Director Air Force Maj. Gen. John P. Horner recently spoke with DoD News about DTRA’s Ebola response in support of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, the U.S. lead for Ebola efforts in West Africa.

“DTRA is one of many stakeholders -- we are not necessarily the lead for any of this,” Horner said. “But between our [research, testing, development and evaluation] efforts and providing protective gear, diagnostic capabilities and vaccines, to modeling and analysis and data-sharing capabilities, we’ve made a lot of contributions” with a range of partners.

These include CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department’s Biosecurity Engagement Program, many other U.S. interagency partners, and international partners that include the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders.

Together, DTRA and its partners provide support to Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa and contribute assay development and laboratory services, funding and capacity building to fight this and future deadly outbreaks.

In the Realm of Basic Research

Dr. Ronald K. Hann Jr., director of research and development in the Chemical and Biological Technologies Department, described the process for DTRA’s work on Ebola diagnostic assays.

“Here at DTRA we work in the realm of basic research up through developing prototypes, but we aren't the ones who do the follow-on procurement, life-cycle management or distribution,” he explained.

“We try to anticipate threats in the future and make sure we have resources prepared to meet those threats,” Hann added.

As products progress, DTRA works directly with its DoD acquisition partner, the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense in Maryland, or with interagency partners such as the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, part of HHS, and the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID.

“We work in an early discovery role, up through prototypes,” Hann said. “Often we’re looking to answer the question, can I do a certain thing, not necessarily whether it’s the best or cheapest way to do it. Looking to make something more cost efficient or how to mass produce it, those are questions that go on to our interagency partners … who carry the product further.”
Threat Detection and Surveillance

Dr. Richard Schoske, chief of the diagnostic detection and threat surveillance division in the Chemical and Biological Technologies Department, described DTRA’s role in diagnostic development.

As far back as 2010, Schoske said, the agency and its advanced developers funded and developed more than seventy assays to detect 19 different pathogens such as hemorrhagic fever viruses like Ebola and Marburg that are both filoviruses.

The assays received pre-Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. Pre-EUA is a step toward EUA, which allows unapproved medical products to be used in an emergency to diagnose, treat or prevent serious diseases.

Generally, Schoske said, DTRA provides funding to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID, and scientists there do further development and present packages of information about the assays to the advanced developer -- the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense.

Then the JPEO-CBD and DTRA’s Cooperative Biological Engagement Program, or CBEP, partners fund the manufacturing, procurement and distribution to analytic laboratories like the ones DTRA is putting in place in Liberia, Schoske said.

“Those are the assays currently being used by laboratories, in West Africa,” he added.

Labs in Sierra Leone, Assessment in Mali

Now, at Sierra Leone’s request and with CBEP funding and DTRA’s international partners, the agency is moving two contractor-staffed diagnostic labs into Sierra Leone and helping build capacity in that country to deal with Ebola and other infectious diseases.

CBEP division chief Dr. Lance Brooks said the labs will go out in stages. One is expected to be ready by the end of December and full operating capability is expected by early January.

Also in the region, DTRA, with CDC and the State Department’s Biosecurity Engagement Program, has sent an assessment team to Mali, the most recent West African country affected by the Ebola epidemic.

Major General Horner said one of DTRA’s most critical capabilities as a combat support agency is “our agility in terms of working with our lawmakers and colleagues at the Pentagon to get money programmed and on a contract in a hurry.”

He added, “As part of [President Barack Obama’s] Global Health Security Agenda we will sustain our efforts and the capabilities we are putting forward into the future as part of our medical countermeasures-biosurveillance effort.”
Dr. Ronald Meris, branch chief for DTRA Technical Reachback, where modeling is performed for Ebola and other infectious diseases, said, “If we could go out on a limb I would say our modeling is showing that the U.S. government response is making a difference in West Africa.”

He added, “I would say the rate of uptick is lower with each bit of interdiction we do to help combat this [outbreak] and build capacity in the countries. So I'm not going to say that it's a good news story yet but I'm saying the response is taking hold.”

U.S. PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE MAKES REMARKS ON EBOLA TO UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

U.S. Mission to the United Nations: Remarks at a General Assembly Session on Ebola

10/10/2014 04:50 PM EDT

Samantha Power

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations 

New York, NY

October 10, 2014

Thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership, for convening this extremely timely meeting. And thank you to Deputy Secretary General Eliasson, Special Envoy Nabarro, and Special Representative Banbury for your work, for your briefings, for your clear call to action, and above all, for the dedicated service of you and your staff.

Minister Gwenigale and Minister Fofanah and our distinguished colleague from Guinea, you are on the front lines of this struggle. We are humbled by the brave efforts of your people and stand by you as you face this unprecedented challenge. Everyone in this room must heed the urgent calls you have made today.

This is our 4th time convening at the highest levels of the United Nations to respond to the Ebola crisis. At the first Security Council meeting on September 18th, 134 nations came together to pass a resolution pledging to tackle this deadly outbreak with urgency and vigor – the greatest number of co-sponsors in the UN’s history.

Since then, some countries have punched far above their weight. Cuba – a country of just 11 million people – has already sent 165 health professionals to the region and plans to send nearly 300 more. Timor-Leste pledged $2 million to the effort – what the Prime Minister Gusmao called an act of “Fragile-to-Fragile” cooperation, from one conflict-affected country to others.

Under President Obama’s lead, the United States has contributed more than $156 million to fighting Ebola and deployed more than 100 experts from our CDC. We’re committed to sending 4,000 U.S. forces to the region – a number that will continue to adapt to mission requirements. These forces will oversee the construction of 17 100-bed Ebola Treatment Units, establish a regional training hub where we will train up to 500 local health care providers each week, and provide crucial logistic support to the complex regional operation.

But more countries need to step up. And those of us who have made commitments need to dig deeper and deliver faster. According to the UN’s financial tracking service, only 24 countries have pledged $1 million or more to the effort. Twenty-four countries. The Secretary General has said we need 20 times the international aid that has been pledged so far.

The need is growing, and it is growing fast. The longer we wait to meet it, the bigger the gaps grow, and the harder the epidemic gets to control. In Guinea and Sierra Leone, the number of infections is projected to double every month; in Liberia, infections are projected to double every 2 weeks.

We are facing the challenge of a generation. Every government, every organization, every business, every individual, needs to determine what the absolute maximum is that it can do, and then reach further. That is the only way that we can collectively bend the horrifying curve of this epidemic’s projected growth.

By failing to step up, the world is letting down every one of the courageous individuals on the front lines of this crisis. When we fail to provide doctors and nurses with more clinics and beds, they are the ones who have to turn away sick children, women, and men. Yet we have only a quarter of the beds that we need in Liberia and Sierra Leone. When we fail to ensure burial teams have the protective suits they need, they and their families are the ones who get sick. Yet more than 400 health care workers have been infected, and at least 232 of them have died. We are asking too much of these people. We have to ask much more of ourselves.

As the world’s response lags, Ebola’s spread is having a devastating impact beyond the individuals it infects. Its victims include children’s education in Sierra Leone, where schools have been closed since July. We know what is needed: more nurses, more doctors, more health workers and technicians, more treatment units with more beds and more labs, more protective gear, more medevac capacity, and more money to meet rising costs. As my Ugandan colleague has just described, we also need more education - much more education. If we provide these things, we can curb the spread of this deadly epidemic.

There is no better evidence of the potential to turn the tide than the infected patients who have already been cured in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, thanks to adequate medical care. For example, in just one Ebola Treatment Unit run by Médecins Sans Frontières in Paynesville, Liberia, 236 infected people have been cured. When discharged, patients are given a certificate affirming that they are healthy.

Recently, I watched a video of a woman being discharged from an MSF clinic. Her name was Jenneh Kromah. She had lost her sister and brother to Ebola, but thanks to MSF’s intervention, she survived her infection. After giving Jenneh her certificate, a doctor took off his protective glove and took hold of her hand: a simple, human gesture – but one that could be deadly when someone is infected. That touch, and the dignity and recovery it represents, should give all of us hope.

Until we are also thinking, though, about the taxi or bus that brought Jenneh to the clinic; or the family members who share her home and may also have been exposed to the virus; or all of the other people she may have come into contact with before arriving at the clinic; until we track all of those people and places, and so much more, victories like Jenneh’s and MSF’s will be pyrrhic ones.

And until we can promise the same dignified, quality attention that Jenneh received to every infected person in the affected countries, we will never get ahead of the outbreak. Until then, we will keep falling behind when we need to be surging ahead. The consequences of inaction, or of not enough action, are unacceptably high. And we have a responsibility to come together to meet this challenge.

Thank you.

DOD NEWS NOW VIDEO: 1100 OCTOBER 10, 2014

DOD VIDEO: ABOUT 100 MARINES ARRIVE IN LIBERIA TO SUPPORT CONTAINMENT OF EBOLA OUTBREAK

CHARLES TAYLOR, FORMER PRESIDENT OF LIBERIA CONVICTED OF WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
The Verdict in the Charles Taylor Trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone
Press Statement Victoria Nuland
Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC
April 26, 2012
The United States welcomes the issuance of the judgment by the Special Court for Sierra Leone, convicting Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Today’s judgment was an important step toward delivering justice and accountability for victims, restoring peace and stability in the country and the region, and completing the Special Court for Sierra Leone’s mandate to prosecute those persons who bear the greatest responsibility for the atrocities committed in Sierra Leone. The Taylor prosecution at the Special Court delivers a strong message to all perpetrators of atrocities, including those in the highest positions of power, that they will be held accountable.

The trial of Charles Taylor is of enormous historical and legal significance as it is the first of a powerful head of state to be brought to judgment before an international tribunal on charges of mass atrocities and serious violations of international humanitarian law. Over 90 witnesses testified during the trial, bringing to light the range of crimes committed during the war in Sierra Leone, and affirming the importance of justice for the victims. The United States has been a strong supporter and the leading donor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone since its inception. The successful completion of the Special Court’s work remains a top U.S. Government priority.