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Ebola: Liberian health workers plan strike Ebola: Some Liberian health workers defy strike call
(about 11 hours later)
Liberian health officials are appealing to nurses and medical assistants not to go ahead with a national strike, as the Ebola epidemic continues. 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.
In the US, President Barack Obama has directed more steps to be taken to ensure high safety procedures when dealing with suspected Ebola patients. Liberia is worst-affected by the deadliest ever Ebola outbreak.
A health worker treating an Ebola victim has herself caught the virus. The disease has killed more than 4,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria since it was identified in March.
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. World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan said the outbreak threatened the "very survival of societies and governments in already very poor countries".
The government says the scale of the epidemic means it now cannot afford the risk fee originally agreed. "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.
The risk fee is currently less than $500 a month, on top of basic salaries of between $200-$300. Staff are now seeking a risk fee of $700 a month. 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.
The health workers also want personal protective equipment and insurance. 'Negative consequences'
Ninety-five of their colleagues have so far died from Ebola. Liberia is one of the countries worst affected by the epidemic. 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.
More than 4,000 people have so far died in the outbreak. 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.
A new UN centre to co-ordinate the fight against the epidemic is being set up in Ghana.
UN aid workers and logisticians are being flown in to Accra, the BBC's Mark Doyle reports. Ghana itself has not so far seen any Ebola cases.
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.
US inquiry
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.
She is now on an isolation ward and is said to be in a stable condition.
Dr Frieden said 48 other people who may also have had contact with Duncan were being observed.
Duncan tested positive in Dallas on 30 September, 10 days after arriving on a flight from Monrovia via Brussels.
He had become ill a few days after arriving in the US, and went to the hospital in Dallas with a high fever.
Symptoms of Ebola include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding. The virus is spread through contact with bodily fluids.
Ebola deaths: Confirmed, probable and suspectedEbola deaths: Confirmed, probable and suspected
Source: WHOSource: 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 dangerousWhy Ebola is so dangerous
How Ebola attacksHow Ebola attacks
Ebola: Mapping the outbreakEbola: 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.
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