Occurring is that when people get the disease, they get scared, and they run to people they think can them. Traditional healers, centers of faiths, or friends and relatives even. And that in turn leads to the movement of sickness and disease into new communities and new chains of transmission and that has let to the wide spread dissemination of the disease and the virus. Third point, how then do we respond as the disease spreads . Well, we have to recognize it is spreading rapidly and probably doubling a number of cases every 34 weeks and that means a huge facility for people with the disease, a great increase in community centers, a lot of work with societies to help them respond to the disease and others to help get prepared. A massive social mobilization on an enormous scale. Not just in the most affected countries, but in neighbors ing countries and indeed throughout the world. This going to scale so Everybody Knows about the disease knows how to prevent it, knows where treatment is available, involves thousands of Health Workers around the world, thousands of Community Mobilizers and hundreds of people to help con struct centers and staff them and make sure they are started. The scale is 20 greater than it was at the beginning of the month and it involves every country in the world, certainly every donor agency in the world, many nongovernmental organizations, all working in support of the president and people of the affected countries. Because without that mass without the Global Movement it will be impossible to get this disease quickly under control and the world will have to live with the ebola virus forever. And that is why your leadership and the leadership of the security council, the leadership of the president , the leadership of the chair of the African Union and i would like to , particular single out the decisive role played by the secretary general of the United Nations in recent weeks gives me some hope that we now have the mechanism to bring together all of the different partners to scale up action and to achieve results rapidly. We will continue to need and request resources from all of you. Doctors and nurses coming in as teams to help staff treatment centers. Airplanes and helicopters and vehicles and motor bikes to provide transportation necessary for logistic systems that go deep in the villages and the townships of the affected countries and to provide expertise in neighboring countries. And we will continue to ask for cash because this is an ex pensive job requiring contracts and arrangements that have to be setup now. So that we can get the scale up as quickly as possible. And that is why we are super grateful to everybody for contributing to the trust fund. The last point about the coalition. As far as it can find its way a virus can find its way through defenses if there are wholes in the defenses especially. It can find its way into the bodies of Healthy People and it can find its way from village to village and town to town if people are frightened and not provided with proper care. And that is why we are seeking to encourage all who are responding to come together in a coalition which will be facilitated i the United Nations. The deputy second general will chair it and that will help us working together know what we are doing and keeping each other informed. This is the most extraordinary challenge that the world could possibly face. Sometimes you see films about this sort of thing, and you imagine, how can such a thing happen. This is more extreme than any film i have seen. This is a real challenge to all of us that is going to require every piece of ingenuity and collective action that we can mount to work to respond to it. Because the enemy in this case it is a virus, a tiny microscopic thing that is invisible to our eyes, and many of us dont understand it. So we have to be prepared to respond to whatever it brings to us. And i thank you for making this possible. Thank you, sir. I thank the special envoy for his briefing. I now give the floor to the special representative and had onthe United Nations mission ebola. He is joining us by a Video Conference. Mr. President of the General Assembly, mr. Deputy secretary general, excellencies, and distinguished delegates, thank you for giving me the opportunity to brief you on the activities of the United Nations mission for ebola Emergency Response. I am grateful to you, mr. President , for your leadership on the ebola crisis and for convening this session and for ensuring the response for fighting the ebola epidemic remains on top of the global agenda. I wish to thank the director general of the world health organization, margaret chan, and all the u. N. Agencies, funds, and programs for their support in terms of material and personal. Since the establishment on the 19th of september, which was welcomed by the General Assembly, the secretarygeneral made clear his expectation that the United Nations of system move rapidly and decisively in responding to the ebola crisis. And we have been moving swiftly. On a number of fronts. My colleague detailed his efforts in building a Global Coalition to respond to this disease. He and i working closely together. Dr. Nabarro is leading the ernational garnish International Effort to garnish support on the plague. He is focused on operational responses on the ground. Following my point by the secretary general, i deployed to the region with the small but now growing team to start up the mission. I am thankful for ghana for having us. That has immensely facilitated the work of the mission. In rapid succession i have , visited the most affected countries, sierra leone, guinea, and liberia, for two days each. I went on the trip to listen, learn, and identify areas where this can be the most helpful and accelerate the response to the crisis. I met there with the president of liberia, the president of sierra leon and the president of guinea. I also met with government ministers and officials, with Civil Society actors, womens groups, ngos and there diplomatic community. I had the opportunity to visit two Ebola Treatment Centers. One Holding Center for patients, as well as a who training center. My first hand impressions were vived and deeply worrying. We saw how brave, tired and immensely dedicated national and international Health Workers are carrying on under difficult circumstances. Over 230 of the Health Workers have died in liberia alone. We saw people and resources stretched to the limit with more being done with less than can be considered acceptable. We saw families grieving for last ones, but also fearing for their own health as well. We saw patients being turned away from a lack of beds at the facility. We saw a woman lying dead in a street, unattended. The human response is to care emphasize empathize, to pay respect to the departed. With ebola this type of response can be fatal. To defeat the virus we will have to change behavior. Excellencies the consequences of , this disease are catastrophic. In order to fight it, we shall be guided by the following principles. First, our top priority is to keep the staff healthy. Without that, nothing is possible. Second, we must support National Efforts and National Leadership. Third the work must not duplicate national plans. And fourth, the response of the mission must be taylor made to each country and situations. Our focus and our effort is on bringing this crisis to an end as soon as possible and as soon as the task is completed we will close our doors. We must also concentrate on prevention and preparedness in other countries and preventing transmission two and other within other countries is a critical component of the mission. Sure countries are able to rapidly detect, control and eliminate the virus if it is introduced. We will collaborate closely with the African Union, the man of river union and the west african state leaderships. I had the honor of meeting with the head of the outbreak of the African Union and i commend the African Unions deployment of Health Workers to fight the disease and i hope others will follow their lead. Mr. President , excellencies, allow me to present some of the findings and conclusions at the initial stage of the mission deployment. The crisis caused by the outbreak of ebola is severe and unprecedented. The world has never seen anything like it. Time is our enemy. The virus is far ahead of us and every day, every day the situation worse. Gets worse. Almost 3,900 people in seven countries have died. The ebola epidemic isnt just a health crisis. It is a complex multidimensional crisis in two main ways. First, it is having a broad impact on the societies where there is an outbreak, it kills people, destroys Health Systems, harms economies, disrupts education systems, Food Security and livelihoods. The three most impacted countries have a recently shown some of the highest Economic Growth rates, not just in africa but in the entire world and now the growth rates may be cut in half by end of the year. Second, the response necessary to end the crisis requires intense effort across local sectors, not just health, but logistics and social issues as well. There are intricate complexities surrounding issues such as burial practices. People in the affected countries still live in denial that ebola israel. Is real. Many resist changing the practices. Science can help in this area, but it is not sufficient. We must understand and respect different Cultural Values and find solutions that protect people from infection but will be accepted by the affected communities, families and individuals. In my short time in the region , it is clear that the greatest need is comrehensive crisis management. Much good work has been done since march by national governments, United Nations agencies, ngos but it has been a patchwork of good work. The crisis needs to be managed like the multidementional crisis it is. Not just as a health crisis. Excellencies, the challenge is immense. The work started only two weeks ago and we are late but it is not too late to still fight and win this battle. We have deployed to four countries. We have deployed staff, vehicles, planes, helicopters, and communication capabilities. We are moving resources to where they are needed the most with strong support from un agencies. This is what we will do. We shall support National Leadership and national ownership. We shall play the role of crisis manager and not just cordinator. Our heads of missions are ebola crisis managers. We will work to make sure there comprehensive plan in place to stop ebola in each country. Each line each line of action will be assigned to an organization with clear timelines and accountability. We shall fill gaps and support that which needs back stopping but we shall not be the only player in fighting the fight. Everyone must play their part. Most importantly we shall work , with a wide range of partners. Anyone who can make a contribution to ending the crisis. The crisis is unprecedented and it requires an unprecedented, creative, Rapid Response to bring it to a close. Our priority shall be to accelerate action. To achieve results fast, we must have your and the worlds support. In particular, first the highest priorities are Ebola Treatment Centers with skilled managers and medical personal. Second, we need diagnostic laboratories and it cannot be that people are willing to contribute to this effort are are because of financial resources. We need to be able to treat and evacuate if necessary aid personal working on the crisis. I would like to add here that the crisis faced by the county shouldnt be compounded by the isolation. Countries and airlines should we isolate the virus not the country. Let me take this opportunity to thank the General Assembly for its rapid approval of the budget 31 december 2014. As i mentioned earlier, when this crisis is over, we will close. But the United Nations funding programs will have much more work to do to support the countries recover from the crises and help them build up so they never fall victim to this disaster again. Even now, as they focus on the emergency we need to incorporate , early recovery and longterm needs into our efforts at the beginning. Mr. President , excellencies, the ebola crisis is an emergency of profound consequences and grave risk. There is no other way to describe it. Like special envoy nabarro mentioned, in my career, not as long as his, but a long one facing many crisis, i have never seen such a terrible, difficult challenge. The world must now act to help the people and governments of guinea, sierra leon and liberia. And by helping them, help the rest of the world. A failure to help now could lead to unpredictable but dire consequences for the people of the countries and well beyond. As long as there is one case of ebola in any one of these countries, no country is safe from the dangers posed by this deadly virus. We are on the ground and we are committed to doing our job. We are doing it now. But we cannot do this alone. Neither can any single country or actor. We need a broad Global Coalition as the secretary general of the , deputy secretary general have called for. The whole world must contribute and each country should contribute what it can. It is only by working together, and fast and inventively that we can end the crisis. We must rise to the occasion and must defeat this disease. Thank you. I think the special representative of the head of the United Nations mission for ebola Emergency Response for his briefing. Before proceeding further, i would like to welcome any form ministers fromrs liberia by have come here. They are joining us by a Video Conference today. I now give the floor to the minister of health and social welfare of liberia. Thank you, mr. President of the General Assembly and the deputy secretary general, and thank you people. ,t is on behalf of my president that i thank you for organizing this meeting to address ebola. I have listened very carefully to the statements by dr. Nabarro and then by anthony. And i have here visiting with me the person who has been appointed by the United Nations to help us fight this in the countries. In the person of peter black. I also have with me my incident management for the ebola incident. Let me go back again to say i have listened very carefully to David Nabarro and to anthony and what they have said have clearly described the situation in our country and the need that we have. So i dont need to go over those things again. I do want to say, however, that ebola has exposed in liberia a week Health System that we are trying to build. Ebola is a bump in the road of our Health Care Delivery program. But when it is over we dont want to have a big beach at the end of it or behind it. The information i seem to get seems to say we are coming to get rid of ebola. I want to remind you people, all of us, that ebola is in the Health System that should be less stronger when ebola is over. Therefore, when i see people saying we are going to get rid of ebola and then close the door, i am saying to myself no, ebola is over the International Community is just beginning to help us to build the Health System that hasnt been damaged so badly by ebola. Our countries have been devastated, not only the Health System but the economic system. Of our people that were helping us to get funding to do Different Things in our country have left. Companies have slowed down and some have left the country. So when you finish we will just be beginning to rebuild. So i want to thank all of you. The United Nations and all of the organizations that are helping us now the United States of america is bringing in more than 3,000 soldiers to build and to help us, the west African Health organization, the west African Union all of you. There are many people. Including the international ngos. All of these people are accelerating the fight we have been trying to do by ourselves and we are very appreciative of this and i want to say thank you but i want to say it to you you are not fighting ebola, you are helping a weak Health System get rid of ebola and when ebola is finished the Health System will be stronger. That should be the goal; to leave behind a Strong Health center. System. And i appreciate David Nabarro very much, who i have met, who is committed to Something Like this. I wasnt in the city when you came to liberia so i am seeing yo