Numbers often speak louder than words, particularly when there's a dollar sign attached. The Ebola crisis is not just an African problem, but a worldwide issue. While most countries have advanced warning to implement emergency procedures, the worst affected areas need outside assistance now more than ever. If the outbreak is not curbed at the source soon, then even the best prepared and most advanced nations will have trouble preventing outbreaks in the supposedly well-protected lands.
Two outbreaks of Ebola have been identified this year – the West African outbreak that began in Guinea, and a second outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa.
Eight countries have catalogued Ebola cases, two outside of Africa.
204 days have passed since Ebola was identified as the cause, but…
311 days have passed since the outbreak began.
Ebola was able to spread around the region for over one hundred days before it could be tackled by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and regional governments.
>3,700 children have been orphaned by Ebola up to the end of September, according to UNICEF. Needless to say, this figure is only going to get higher, adding to the humanitarian crisis surrounding the outbreak.
~4,033 fatalities, most in West Africa. Inadequate medical care and prevention of the spread of Ebola are the biggest hindrances to the control effort, and much more international aid needs to be provided.
~8,400 infected so far in this outbreak. That’s 3.5 times more than have EVER been infected in the outbreaks recorded since 1976!
20,000 is the projected number of Ebola cases in West Africa for the end of next month (November 2014), according to the WHO Ebola response team.
2.5 million people affected (not infected!) in the region by the outbreak.
200 million US dollars estimated as being required by UNICEF to deal with Ebola in the region.
32.5 BILLION US dollars could be cost of containing Ebola if it spreads further throughout Africa, according to the World Bank. All the more reason for international bodies to act swiftly to curb the spread of Ebola.
[Additional sources: Healthmap; WHO; UNICEF; CDC]