Obama to announce expanded plan to fight Ebola
David Jackson, USA TODAY
President Obama on Tuesday will announce an expansion of a $763 million U.S. military-led plan to help West Africa nations fight the spread of the Ebola virus, officials said Monday night.
Adding to an existing project, the project calls for more doctors and health care professionals; more portable hospitals, laboratories, and other medical facilities; and increased training for first responders and other medical officials throughout West Africa.
The total cost of the program is estimated at $763 million over six months, officials said, including $175 million that has already been dedicated to fight the disease that has claimed more than 2,400 lives in Africa.
The administration has asked Congress for an additional $88 million for the anti-Ebola program, officials said. And the Department of Defense, which is heading up the program, has requested the re-programming of $500 million.
Obama plans to discuss the program during a visit Tuesday to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Senior administration officials described the program on the condition they not be named so as not to pre-empt the president's announcement.
The World Health Organization on Tuesday reported 4,963 overall cases of Ebola, including 2,453 deaths.
The plan's goals include the training of up to 500 health care workers a week, and construction of up to 17 health care facilities of 100 beds each. Home health care kits will be distributed, and local populations will be trained on how to handle suddenly infected Ebola patients.
The military will help coordinate the project through a joint command headquarters in Monrovia, Liberia, one of the countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak.
The effort has been dubbed Operation United Assistance, in concert with governments in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal. The Department of Defense will work with the United States Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control.
About 3,000 U.S. military personnel will be in West Africa to lead the project, officials said.
During his visit to the CDC, Obama "will receive a briefing on the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa, discuss the U.S. response and thank the scientists, doctors and health care workers helping those affected by disease at home and around the world," said the White House schedule.
The virus does not threaten the United States, and will not if the right steps are taking, officials said.
While declining to discuss the plan in detail, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama believes that "making an investment here early is critical to trying to snuff out this problem before it becomes a much more widespread problem."
VIEW SLIDE SHOW.....