3,000 US Troops will be deployed to Liberia.

[Deleted]

US President Barack Obama is to announce plans on Tuesday to send 3,000 troops to Liberia to help fight the Ebola virus, US officials say.

It is understood the US military will oversee building new treatment centres and help train medical staff.

There has been criticism of the slow international response to the epidemic.

On Monday Ghana President John Dramani Mahama said more and faster outside help was needed to slow the spread of the disease.

Mr Mahama also called for the easing of restrictions on West African countries which he said had undermined the fight against the disease.

United Nations officials will discuss the international response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa at a meeting in Geneva.

US officials said the aim of the anti-Ebola initiative is to:

Train up to 500 healthcare workers a week
Construct 17 heathcare facilities, each with about 100 beds
Establish a joint command based in Monrovia, Liberia, to co-ordinate between US and international relief efforts
Distribute home healthcare kits to thousands of households
Conduct a home and community-based campaign to train local people in how to handle patients

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are the worst-hit countries in an outbreak that has killed more than 2,400 people.

More than half of those killed by the virus have been in Liberia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned recently that thousands more cases could occur in Liberia.

Ebola spreads between humans by direct contact with infected blood, bodily fluids or organs, or indirectly through contact with contaminated environments.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29217350

How many oilfields does Liberia pos- Oh, fuck.

Really though, it's great that the U.S is actually going head first into the country to render assistance; I'm just curious on how the public will react to them intervening.

What's your thoughts on the matter?

[Gheld]

Seems like a good idea. Having treatment centers built that are closer to western standards will probably up the survival rate.

[Olo]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/wo...T.nav=top-news

17 Ebola treatment centers in the region, with about 1,700 treatment beds

The military will also provide engineers to help construct the additional treatment facilities and will send enough people to train up to 500 health care workers a week to deal with the crisis.

The American government will also provide 400,000 Ebola home health and treatment kits to Liberia, as well as tens of thousands of kits intended to test whether people have the disease.

Coming on the heels of new projections that the outbreak could be much longer than anticipated, and could infect hundreds of thousands of people

[Gumboy]

Hopefully nobody gets infected that gets sent to help And also hopefully it helps the situation greatly!

[Mihalik]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/wo...T.nav=top-news


Coming on the heels of new projections that the infection could be much longer than anticipated, and could infect hundreds of thousands of people

This is the coming of the much anticipated Zombie Apocalypse! Calling it now!

On a serious note. Good. We need to stem this threat out before it causes more damage.

[Wells]

Hey I'm all for intervention when we're there to help people.

Hopefully nobody gets infected that gets sent to help

Given half decent training its hard to catch Ebola unless you're directly working with the sick. I doubt soldiers there running security and logistics have anything to worry about.

[Olo]

I know one the problems they were having was getting doctors trained in ppe (hazmat) suits.

[Wells]

Ebola Force is the worst saturday morning kids' cartoon.

[Veluren]

While I feel bad for the people who've died and will most likely die in the future, I'm glad this outbreak is posing such a danger to first world countries so suddenly, the "our problem now" mentality will hopefully mean massive efforts will be put into making a cure that can be distributed to as many places as possible.

[Olo]

While I feel bad for the people who've died and will most likely die in the future, I'm glad this outbreak is posing such a danger to first world countries so suddenly, the "our problem now" mentality will hopefully mean massive efforts will be put into making a cure that can be distributed to as many places as possible.

The pentagon is already funding ebola research as part of the Bioshield project and may already have a cure.

[Veluren]

The pentagon is already funding ebola research as part of the Bioshield project and may already have a cure.

That's good to hear, maybe it's a bit too much of wishful thinking, but hopefully this goes the way of smallpox.

[Blueobelisk]

Holy shit I'd be scared if I was one of those 3000. I don't like this at all.

[Deletedaccount1]

This is literally Resident Evil 5.

- - - Updated - - -

and 28 weeks later

[Deletedaccount1]

Inb4 "fat ugly american warmongers!1" from one of our lovely EU members.

In all seriousness, I'm not sure how I feel about this. It seems like a good idea, I just hope the potential benefits far outweigh the potential consequences.

What are the potential consequences?

[Deleted]

Inb4 "fat ugly american warmongers!1" from one of our lovely EU members.

In all seriousness, I'm not sure how I feel about this. It seems like a good idea, I just hope the potential benefits far outweigh the potential consequences.

No you see, this is the kind of shit that modern militaries should do, move in, help people, then move out. They aren't going there for resources, they are going to help people and potentially help stop an outbreak that could potentially cause some serious harm to the Western World. You've totally got the EU's blessing on this one.

It's when you move in and try to "freedomize" that people generally get pissed off.

[Paula Deen]

This is what will happen, mark my words:

Obama refused to help the innocents in Iraq and Liberate Syria, but he was just fine with helping his African Brothers in an epidemic that could change the fate of an entire continent.

Infracted

[Aspid07]

Drone strikes have gotten increasingly effective at solving the worlds problems so we figured we would take a whack at this whole ebola thing.

[Deleted]

See this is the kind of news I wanna read about, it goes to show that the US is more than fat ugly american warmongers (I got you covered MrTophat)

Hopefully it will be to great help and stop it in its steps, good guy america, now it is us europeans who have to get off our asses

[Khorm]

I know one the problems they were having was getting doctors trained in ppe (hazmat) suits.

And ones that weren't religious nut jobs.

[Deleted]

They should just bomb Ebola first.