WHO will miss Ebola target date

LONDON – Two months ago, the World Health Organization launched an ambitious plan to stop the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, aiming to isolate 70 percent of the sick and safely bury 70 percent of the victims in the three hardest-hit countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – by December 1.

Only Guinea is on track to meet today’s goal, according to an update from WHO.

In Liberia, only 23 percent of cases are isolated and 26 percent of the needed burial teams are in place. In Sierra Leone, about 40 percent of cases are isolated while 27 percent of burial teams are operational.

Missing today’s target date will mark another failure in WHO’s attempts to slow the biggest-ever outbreak of the deadly disease. The Ebola outbreak was first reported in Guinea in March and spiraled out of control after being declared a public health emergency in August.

WHO’s Dr. Bruce Aylward acknowledged in October that to reach the December 1 goal would be “really pushing the system hard.”

“If we don’t do it in 60 days and we take 90 days: No. 1, a lot more people will die that shouldn’t; and No. 2, we will need that much more capacity on the ground to be able to manage the caseload,” said Aylward, who is directing WHO’s Ebola response.

In recent weeks, there have been some successes in curbing Ebola; cases seem to be declining or stabilizing in Liberia and Guinea. But the area around Sierra Leone’s capital and a district in the country’s north are seeing a severe surge in cases.

Even if the December 1 targets had been reached, WHO and others had predicted Ebola would continue sickening people in West Africa and possibly elsewhere until sometime next year. Ebola has sickened more than 16,000 people of whom nearly 7,000 have died, according to figures released by the World Health Organization Friday.