The irony of September being US National Preparedness month was not lost as Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) made an uncharacteristic global call for rapid deployment of civil and military medical assets with expertise in biohazard containment to west Africa. With 42% of all reported Ebola infections occurring in the past month, and more than 2000 reported deaths, local health systems and international organisations were not prepared for the scale and speed of the current outbreak. MSF called for countries such as the UK and USA to deploy disaster response teams with medical and logistical experts for water and sanitation, building of mobile laboratories, isolation centres, hospitals, crematoriums, and the establishment of dedicated air bridges to move personnel and equipment between countries.
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