2014, Ebola

(Although the title and description are in French, the original video in http://www.actandspeak.ch/fr/content/2014-ebola is in English, with burned-in French subtitles)

"2014, Ebola - - L’heure tourne et le virus est en train de gagner
Dans un discours prononcé le 2 septembre 2014 devant les Etats membres de l'ONU, la présidente internationale de MSF, Dr. Joanne Liu, a dénoncé l’absence de déploiement de ressources internationales, ce qui pour l’instant laisse aux ministères de la Santé et aux ONG privées, largement débordés, la responsabilité de faire face à une épidémie d’une ampleur sans précédent. Malgré les appels répétés de MSF en faveur d’une mobilisation massive sur le terrain, l’insuffisance de la réponse internationale est fatale pour les populations."

This video is one of those published in Médecins Sans Frontières' http://www.actandspeak.ch/ initiative

[Déclaration du Dr Joanne Liu, Présidente de Médecins sans Frontières,]

[devant les Etats membres de l'ONU
New York, 02 septembre 2014]

(Joanne Liu) Mr. Deputy Secretary General, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

thank you for this opportunity to brief the Member States on the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history,

the world is losing the battle to contain it,

leaders all failing to come to grip with this transnational threat.

Ebola treatment centers are reduced to places where people go to die alone,

where little more than palliative care is offered.

In Sierra Leone, infectious bodies are rotting in the streets.

Rather than building new Ebola care centers in Liberia,

we are forced to build crematoria.

Médecins sans Frontières has been ringing alarm bells for months

but the response has been too late, too little.

The outbreak began six months ago

but was only declared public health emergency of international concern on August 8.

Many of the Member States represented here today

have invested heavily in biological threat response.

You have a political and humanitarian responsibility

to immediately utilize these capabilities in Ebola-affected countries.

To curb the epidemic, it is imperative that states immediately

deploy civilian and military assets with expertise in bio-hazard containment.

UN Member States cannot focus solely on measures to protect their own borders.

Only by battling the epidemic at its roots can we stem it.

This is a transnational crisis with social, economic and security implication

for the African continent.

It is your historic responsibility to act now.

We cannot cut off the affected countries and hope this epidemic will simply burn out.

To put out this fire, we must run into the burning building.

Thank you.

[Parfois, il faut plus que des soins.
Médecins sans frontières, Ärzte ohne Grenzen]

[MSF sauve aussi des vies en prenant la parole.]

[actandspeak]

[www.actandspeak.ch]