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World losing Ebola battle: MSF

The world is "losing the battle" to contain Ebola and a better global disaster response is needed, Medecins sans Frontieres says.

Kenyan health workers from port health service screen for temperatures
Kenya is closing its borders to travellers from its Ebola-afflicted neighbours. (AAP)

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International medical agency Medecins sans Frontieres says the world is "losing the battle" to contain Ebola and has called for a global biological disaster response to get aid and personnel to west Africa.

"Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it. Leaders are failing to come to grips with this transnational threat," MSF international president Joanne Liu told a UN briefing in New York on Tuesday.

"The (World Health Organisation) announcement on August 8 that the epidemic constituted a 'public health emergency of international concern' has not led to decisive action, and states have essentially joined a global coalition of inaction."

Liu called for the international community to fund more beds for a regional network of field hospitals, dispatch trained personnel and deploy mobile laboratories across Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.


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