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Ebola: African Union sending specialists, health workers to Liberia and Sierra Leone
The African Union was preparing Monday to send a team of 30 health workers and other specialists to help fight an Ebola outbreak that killed more than 2,400 people in West Africa.
The volunteers are epidemiologists, clinicians, public health specialists and communications personnel. They are set to be deployed in Liberia, the country hardest hit by the epidemic, from September 17.
A second batch of volunteers will be deployed to Sierra Leone in the next few weeks, the African Union said in a statement.
“This is the time for Africa to show solidarity with the affected countries,” said African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko.
In Liberia, the Johnson-Sirleaf administration has fired 10 government officials for disobeying an order to return to the Ebola-stricken country after foreign trips, marking the second such dismissal in less than a month.
According to an official statement, the officials fired “showed insensitivity” to the country’s tragedy and disregard for authority.”
The Ebola outbreak has claimed more than 1,200 lives in Liberia and threatens to disrupt the nation’s vital farming industry as the economy has tipped into recession.
