'Ebola outbreak an emergency,' declares WHO; coordinated international response needed to stop it

New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency. It has further added that it requires an extraordinary response to stop its spread. WHO announced the Ebola outbreak the largest and longest in history is worrying enough to merit being declared an international health emergency. "A coordinated international response is deemed essential to stop and reverse the international spread of Ebola," the WHO said in a statement after a two-day meeting of its emergency committee on Ebola. The organization had declared similar emergencies before for swine flu pandemic and for polio. This agency had convened an expert committee this week to assess the severity of the ongoing epidemic in West Africa. The current outbreak of Ebola began in Guinea in March and has since spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia.