UN: World aid for Ebola ‘not here yet’

The United Nations is still lacking the funds necessary to end the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the leader of the mission said Thursday.

“We definitely do not have the response capability on the ground now from the international community, from the world, to defeat this disease. It’s not here yet,” U.N. crisis manager Tony Banbury said in an interview with the BBC.

{mosads}“We need more resources so we can cover more areas so we can defeat the disease wherever it is,” he said.

So far, donors have pledged to cover about 60 percent of the U.N.’s $1 billion funding request, but only $227 million has been officially committed, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Eleven countries have pledged at least $10 million to help stem the outbreak, while institutions like the World Bank and individual charities such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have also made commitments.

The Obama administration submitted its largest-ever funding request to fight Ebola this week: a total of $6.2 billion. That request is six times the country’s current commitment, and would be split among international and domestic goals to prevent the spread of Ebola.

While on-the-ground responders from the World Health Organization and other groups have said the disease’s spread is slowing in areas of Liberia, Banbury said the fight is not over.

Even as cases slow down in the country’s capital city of Liberia, he said, “in other places, we’re still seeing significant accelerations.”

He also said it’s too early to predict whether the U.N. would meet its goals — bed space available for 70 percent of new cases and 70 percent of safe burials — by December.