West African countries adopt strategy to fight Ebola

London, July 4: West African countries have adopted a common strategy to combat the deadly

virus outbreak, a media report said on Friday.

At an emergency meeting called by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Ghana, health ministers from the 11 West African countries agreed on better collaboration to fight the world's deadliest outbreak to date, BBC reported.

According to the WHO, 759 people have been infected with the virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and 467 of them have died.

Under the new strategy, the WHO will open a sub-regional control centre in Guinea to coordinate technical support.

Health officials have said that educating people about the virus is the most effective way to contain the outbreak.

Cultural practices and traditional beliefs in some areas have hampered public health measures, contributing to the spread of the disease, the officials said.

In some cases, mobs have attacked health workers forcing emergency centres to close.

The WHO has already sent more than 150 experts to West Africa over the past few months to try to contain the outbreak.

But it says political commitment is needed from the region itself to ensure this outbreak is stopped soon.

Most of the deaths have been centred in the southern Guekedou region of Guinea, where the outbreak was first reported in February.

Ebola spreads through contact with an infected person's bodily fluids and there is no vaccine or cure. Up to 90 percent of those infected with the virus die.

IANS