Gayle Smith, the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Development and Democracy says the US is already involved in efforts to prevent the spread of the disease/FILE
Gayle Smith, the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Development and Democracy says the US is already involved in efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.
She was speaking during a telephonic press conference on Wednesday at the US Embassy in Nairobi where she said the world should not isolate countries hit by the disease.
She said the disease was a global problem and not a Western Africa issue alone.
Smith said already, they had established two response teams in Nairobi and in Sierra Leone noting that they were also working with the African Union.
“We are also working with the United Nations,” she assured. “Even as we respond on an emergency level today, we are also working very hard on a longer term so that we can increase capability to handle the disease all over the world.”
During the briefing, Tom Kenyon, the Director of the Disease Control and Prevention Centre for Global Health said all stakeholders should be involved to avert the menace from spreading further.
“Every country including Kenya should be prepared for their first case…when it comes, that you should have a rapid response team on the ground,” he cautioned.
He advised that health workers should ensure they do a thorough screening at all entry points.
The Kenya Government has already announced a series of precaution measures.
On August 14, Kenya sent a team to assess the situation in Monrovia and Free Town, which are among West African cities worst hit by the Ebola crisis.
The team included two doctors and was mandated to assess the management protocols on the ground so as to advise the government on measures to be taken in enhancing controls in the country.
Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has since said that 200 health workers have been trained in the next three weeks as part of government measures to mitigate the transmission of the deadly disease.
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