
World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan (L) pauses next to Roberto Morales Ojeda, Minister of Public Health of Cuba, during a news conference on support to Ebola affected countries at the WHO headquarters in Geneva.
WASHINGTON D.C. - The International Monetary Fund has warned that the impact of the Ebola outbreak will cut growth in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, raising their financing needs to 100 to 130 million U.S. dollars each.
Based on the latest information available, growth could decline by at least 3 to 3.5 percent in Liberia and Sierra Leone and by 1.5 percent in Guinea.
Speaking at a news conference at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Roberto Morales Ojeda, Cuba&39;s minister of public health, said the first of his workers would begin arriving in Sierra Leone in early October.
The worst-ever outbreak of Ebola fever has now killed more than 2,400 people and infected twice that number in the worst outbreak of the disease in history.
The epidemic has been raging in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea since it started there in March, and has also reached Nigeria and Senegal.
WHO director general Margaret Chan welcomed Cuba&39;s commitment, saying it would make "a significant difference" in Sierra Leone.
"If we are going to go to war with Ebola, we need the resources to fight," she said. "Cuba is world famous for its ability to train outstanding doctors and nurses and for its generosity in helping fellow countries on the route to progress."
The Cuba staff will include doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, specialists in infection control, intensive care specialists and social mobilisation officers.
The number of new patients is moving far faster than the capacity to manage them.