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 | Obama to Expand Ebola Efforts September 16, 2014 |
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Obama to Expand Ebola Efforts
President Barack Obama is set to announce on Tuesday an expansion of military and medical resources (WSJ)
to combat the spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa, where the U.S.
military will deploy roughly 3,000 personnel to coordinate international
aid, build treatment centers, and train health-care workers. The
proposal comes after weeks of international pressure on Washington to
escalate its response to the epidemic (NYT),
which has killed at least 2,400 people and sickened more than 4,700.
The Obama administration has also requested an additional $88 million
from Congress to combat the virus, including $58 million to hasten the
production of experimental antiviral drugs (FT).
Analysis
"Any non-indigenous military use must be carefully considered,
weighing the tremendous professional skills and experience combat
medics could bring to the epidemic fight against potential blowback from
conspiracy-mongers and Islamists," writes CFR's Laurie Garrett for Foreign Policy.
"The
United Nations is the only international organization that can direct
the immense amount of medical, public health and humanitarian aid that
must come from many different countries and nongovernmental groups
to smother this epidemic. Thus far it has played at best a
collaborating role, and with everyone in charge, no one is in charge,"
writes Michael T. Osterholm for the New York Times.
"Countries
cannot focus solely on measures to protect their own borders. Only by
battling the epidemic at its roots can we stem it. This is a transnational crisis, with social, economic and security implications for the African continent," writes Joanne Liu for the Washington Post.
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