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Ebola: Some Liberian health workers defy strike call | |
(about 11 hours later) | |
Some health workers in Liberia have turned up for work, defying calls for a strike amid the Ebola outbreak, a BBC reporter says. | |
However, the picture is still unclear, as there are also reports of workers heeding the strike call, the BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Liberia says. | |
The National Health Workers Association wants an increase in the monthly risk fee paid to those treating Ebola cases. | The National Health Workers Association wants an increase in the monthly risk fee paid to those treating Ebola cases. |
Liberia is worst-affected by the deadliest ever Ebola outbreak. | |
The disease has killed more than 4,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria since it was identified in March. | |
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan said the outbreak threatened the "very survival of societies and governments in already very poor countries". | |
"I have never seen an infectious disease contribute so strongly to potential state failure," she said in a speech delivered on her behalf at a health conference in the Philippines. | |
In the US, President Barack Obama has directed more steps to be taken to ensure high safety procedures when dealing with suspected Ebola patients after a health worker treating an Ebola victim caught the virus. | |
'Negative consequences' | |
In Liberia, 95 health workers have so far died from Ebola, and the National Health Workers Association has accused the government of not doing enough to protect them. | |
The association called the strike to demand a risk fee of $700 (£434) a month; it is currently less than $500 a month, on top of basic salaries of between $200-$300. | |
Ebola deaths: Confirmed, probable and suspected | Ebola deaths: Confirmed, probable and suspected |
Source: WHO | Source: WHO |
Note: figures have occasionally been revised down as suspected or probable cases are found to be unrelated to Ebola. They do not include one death in the US recorded on 8 October. | Note: figures have occasionally been revised down as suspected or probable cases are found to be unrelated to Ebola. They do not include one death in the US recorded on 8 October. |
How not to catch Ebola: | How not to catch Ebola: |
Why Ebola is so dangerous | Why Ebola is so dangerous |
How Ebola attacks | How Ebola attacks |
Ebola: Mapping the outbreak | Ebola: Mapping the outbreak |
The association's secretary-general George Williams said the government had pressured some health staff to report to work, but he was still assessing whether the call for a strike was effective. | |
Earlier, Liberia's Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah said a strike would have negative consequences on those suffering from Ebola and would adversely affect progress made so far in the fight against the disease. | |
The government says the scale of the epidemic means it now cannot afford the risk fee originally agreed. | |
'Full inquiry' | |
Liberia has about 50 doctors to serve the country's 4.2 million people - an average of 0.1 doctor per 10,000 people, according to data compiled by the Afri-Dev.Info health and social development agency. | |
A new UN centre to co-ordinate the fight against the epidemic is being set up in Ghana and UN aid workers and logisticians are being flown to the capital, Accra. | |
Ghana has not been hit by Ebola. | |
Six months after the epidemic began in West Africa there are still only about a quarter of the treatment beds required to tackle it. | |
Food is now in short supply as markets are disrupted in some parts of the three countries worst affected: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. | |
In Liberia, elections have been postponed because the gathering of people at polling stations would endanger lives. | |
On Sunday evening, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that a female health worker had tested positive for Ebola in Dallas. | |
CDC chief Dr Tom Frieden has promised a full inquiry into how the transmission could have occurred. | |
The CDC investigation, he told reporters, would focus on possible breaches made during two "high-risk procedures", dialysis and respiratory intubation. | |
The health worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital had been treating Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan, who caught the virus in his native Liberia and died on Wednesday. | |
Have you been affected by the Ebola outbreak? Do you think enough is being done where you live to fight the disease? Tell us your story. You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. | Have you been affected by the Ebola outbreak? Do you think enough is being done where you live to fight the disease? Tell us your story. You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. |
Have your say | Have your say |
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (international). Or you can upload here. | Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (international). Or you can upload here. |
Read the terms and conditions. | Read the terms and conditions. |