World Health Organisation blamed for Ebola spread

The World Health Organisation made serious errors in its attempts to halt the spread of Ebola in West Africa, an internal report has revealed.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, says that the WHO should have taken action to stop Ebola from spreading in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea earlier this year but instead blamed factors such as incompetent staff and a lack of information

“Nearly everyone involved in the outbreak response failed to see some fairly plain writing on the wall,” the WHO report said. “A perfect storm was brewing, ready to burst open in full force.”

The WHO’s own experts did not understand that traditional methods to contain infectious diseases could not work in a region with porous borders and broken health systems, the report said. Moreover, it said that the heads of the WHO African offices were “politically motivated appointments” by WHO regional director for Africa Luis Sambo. Sambo does not answer directly to WHO director general Margaret Chan.

WHO have not yet commented on the findings of this report/

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama appointed Ron Klein, former chief of staff to vice president Joe Biden, as the new Ebola czar. Klein does not have any medical experience but the White House said that his role would be to coordinate the actions of government agencies in fighting the virus.