In an interview that was aired on Sunday, US Pres. Barack Obama said that the United States military will be joining the fight against the Ebola virus in West Africa. Obama was, however, quick to add that it could be months before the virus could be effectively contained.
The president also said that it is highly unlikely that the virus would cause an outbreak in the United States, but warned that it could mutate to become a bigger health threat outside of the stricken regions. He also argued that the devastating death toll that the disease is causing is due primarily to the health infrastructure in Africa.
He said, "We are going to have to get US military assets just to set up, for example, isolation units and equipment there, to provide security for public-health workers surging from around the world. If we do that then it's still going to be months before this problem is controllable in Africa." He added, "If we don't make that effort now, and this spreads not just through Africa but other parts of the world, there's the prospect then that the virus mutates. It becomes more easily transmittable. And then it could be a serious danger to the United States."
According to the World Health Organization, the Ebola epidemic that is currently sweeping West Africa has claimed more than 2000 lives from the nearly 4,000 people who are infected. Although the President did not give specific details as to when military deployment will take place, he did say that the American government needs to consider this outbreak as a "National security priority."
The American pledge of sending military support comes after the European Union's announcement that they will be increasing the funding on projects that aim to resolve the Ebola outbreak, including boosting health services, funding mobile laboratories for disease detection, safeguarding the provision of food and water, sanitation, as well as the overall strengthening of public services.