As the Ebola virus continues to spread at an alarming rate, Liberia's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, issued a stern warning. Calling Ebola a "clear and present danger," President Sirleaf said, "The scope and scale of the epidemic, the virulence and deadliness of the virus now exceed the capacity and statutory responsibility of any one government agency or ministry."
Those few words underscore the need to rapidly contain the spread of the epidemic. The epidemic also draws attention to the fragility of most African countries' public health systems and to the need to improve them.
"What we have done is to make sure we're surging not just U.S. resources, but we have reached out to European partners and partners from other countries working with the World Health Organization (WHO)," said U.S. President Barack Obama. He also promised to help bolster the systems that the countries already have in place.