According the Deputy Minister, the President, who is also the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is deeply saddened at the mode of treating the affected countries. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone are currently the worst hit. "Isolation is not the answer to the Ebola crisis. These countries rather need the world's support instead of being left on their own", he said.
Ghana's Deputy Minister for Information and Media Relation, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has amplified President John Mahama's position on the Ebola scourge plaguing certain parts of West Africa.
According the Deputy Minister, the President, who is also the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is deeply saddened at the mode of treating the affected countries. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone are currently the worst hit. "Isolation is not the answer to the Ebola crisis. These countries rather need the world's support instead of being left on their own", he said.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the United Nations Summit in New York, Mr. Kwakye Ofosu said the president has asked the international community to take a second look at the approach to fighting the pandemic. He said contrary to the notion that closing the borders would keep the spread of the disease in check, President Mahama is of the view that this would further isolate the affected countries most of who are already coming from a period of conflict and are making frantic efforts to rebuild their countries.
He said on a recent visit to Sierra Leone, President Mahama realized how the empty the airport and how much the phenomenon of people staying away from each other is affecting the efforts of the government to rebuild infrastructure and improve the economy.
President John Dramani Mahama made an impassioned speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday where he called for a revised approach to dealing with Ebola. "We cannot afford to let fear keep us away" he told world leaders. “Ebola is a problem that belongs to the world because it is a disease that knows no boundaries”, he added.
President Mahama also announced the setting up of the Ghanaian capital Accra as a hub for co-ordinating efforts in the sub-region to combat the crisis.
Meanwhile, an advance response team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived in Accra on Wednesday to begin co-ordinating efforts to fight the scourge which has claimed an estimated 3,000 lives since its outbreak earlier this year.