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 Ebola has killed at least 3,338 in West Africa -- mainly in Sierra
Leone, Guinea and Liberia -- out of 7,178 cases as of Sept. 28, the
World Health Organisation (WHO) says, and cases have been recorded
elsewhere, including in the United States.
Sierra Leone's president, Ernest Bai Koroma, canceled his attendance
at the conference just hours before it started. His plane had
technical problems, Britain's Foreign Office said.
Speaking on Thursday before the "Defeating Ebola" conference began,
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, called for countries to
increase financial aid as well as other vital help including medical
expertise, transport and supplies.
"We need help from the international community to provide us with
the doctors and nurses, so we're asking other countries to piggy
back on the structure we've put in place," he said.
"Britain's got a footprint on the ground in Sierra Leone, we've got
military engineers there, we've got a big DFID presence, we've got a
plan to roll out a large number of additional Ebola treatment beds,"
he said.
Although WHO said the total number of new cases had fallen for a
second week, it warned of under-reporting and said there were few
signs of the epidemic being brought under control.
"Transmission remains persistent and widespread in Guinea, Liberia
and Sierra Leone, with strong evidence of increasing case incidence
in several districts," WHO said.
The Save the Children charity warned the authorities faced the
prospect of an epidemic "spreading like wildfire" across Sierra
Leone, saying there had been 765 new cases reported in the country
last week but there were only 327 beds available.
"The scale of the Ebola epidemic is devastating and growing every
day, with five people infected every hour in Sierra Leone last
week," the charity's chief executive, Justin Forsyth, said.
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"We need a coordinated international response that ensures treatment
centers are built and staffed immediately."
Although the charity praised UK efforts, a British parliamentary
committee said on Thursday that cuts in aid from Britain to Libera
and Sierra Leone had compromised the fight against the disease.
"In the midst of this devastating epidemic ... it is wrong for the
UK to cut its support to these two countries by nearly a fifth,"
International Development Committee chairman, Malcolm Bruce, said in
a report from the committee.
"The planned termination of further UK funding to the Liberian
health sector is especially unwise."
DFID said it had promised 120 million pounds ($200 million) towards
helping health services in Sierra Leone.
(This story was refiled to add dropped word in first paragraph)
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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