The UN World Food Program has airlifted much-needed aid to the three countries that are worst-affected by the West African Ebola Epidemic – Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.  It comes as Nigeria is declared “Ebola Free” after successfully containing the eradicating the killer virus.

Ghana is acting as a staging area for much of the international aid going into the Ebola countries.  Ghana’s President John Mahama said that protective clothing for healthcare workers are part of the shipment, as are vehicles and motorcycles for moving those workers around to several new treatment centers.

“But there’s no need for us to duplicate each other and have more treatment centers when we do not have volunteers and health workers to treat the people in the treatment centers,” Mahama said, calling for closer cooperation between aid agencies.  “It must be a balance of things, closing all the gaps that exist and make sure that optimally the resources are going towards containing the disease.”  Mahama is convening a meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in November to co-ordinate the international response.

A third United Nations staff member has died in the epidemic.  Edmund Bangura-Sesay was a local driver for the UN office in Sierra Leone.  He died on Saturday, just four days after being quarantined because his wife began to show symptoms of Ebola disease.  She is still being treated.  Officials are monitoring and if necessary quarantining everyone who came in contact with Bangura-Sesay in recent weeks. 

But more positive news emerged as Nigeria – as expected – was declared Ebola-free by the UN World Health Organization, after 42 days without any news infections.  Senegal got the all-clear last week.  But overall, the epidemic is continuing unabated:  More than 4,500 people are dead and the situations in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia are grim.