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STORY: GENEVA / EBOLA NABARRO
TRT: 2’53”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 9 DECENBER 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. David Nabarro, UN Special Envoy on Ebola:
“There are two particularly troublesome areas. One is western Sierre Leone, which is Freetown and Port Loko particularly, where there is a need for a much more intense response. There are high levels of transmission and we currently have some of the most experienced Ebola responders in the world working in that area, bringing together UNMEER, the government, different parts of the UN, the World Health Organization obviously, many NGOs, to try to make sure we’ve got the beds, and also the community mobilisation and the burial teams there in adequate numbers to deal with what is quite a strong flare up. The second area which is a cause of trouble is the northern part of the interior of Guinea, Guinea forestière. And we have been working very closely with Mali to try to make sure that if cases perchance cross the border that they can be dealt with very quickly. I was working with the President of Mali on that and with the UN peace keepers in Mali.”
4. Wide shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. David Nabarro, UN Special Envoy on Ebola:
“The reason why I’m reasonably positive is that we’ve got thousands of people involved in the response. They are pretty well coordinated. And we have seen in many areas good progress, which means that the strategy works.”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. David Nabarro, UN Special Envoy on Ebola:
“For me the big, big lesson of the last two months has been the absolute, the absolute necessity for communities to be fully involved and to embrace the issue, just as we found with many other diseases. But on this one we’ve seen that it is possible. And when there is a little bit of reluctance for communities to be engaged, that a period of negotiation and confidence building is absolutely key. And where that’s done well it achieves results.”
8. Close up, journalist and camera
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. David Nabarro, UN Special Envoy on Ebola:
“We can’t rest, you know, we have to still push on. We can’t sit back and say the job is even partially done because of this fear that we have all the time that as long as there is infection in a part of the total area, that could easily spread. It could even spread to places where current infection levels are zero. And that keeps us very focused and sometimes quite anxious. Every day we wake up and we realise the enormity of the job that still lies ahead.”
10. Close up, journalists
The head of the United Nations’ response to the Ebola outbreak told reporters in Geneva that progress is being made in controlling the virus, but an enormous job still lies ahead.
Dr. David Nabarro, UN Special Envoy on Ebola, has recently returned from West Africa, where he visited all four countries now affected by Ebola - Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Mali.
He said that he was inspired by what he saw and that he is confident that the Ebola response is on the right track.
However, he stressed that fighting the disease requires continuous effort by hundreds of different organizations and thousands of people, putting plans in to action quickly, effectively and efficiently.
Nabarro also said that communities are increasingly becoming involved in dealing with Ebola and accepting advice on how to tackle it safely, adding that if communities are reluctant to embrace the issue, then negotiation and confidence building are helping to get them on board.
He noted that it’s crucial for communities to be fully involved to ensure that people who are infected with Ebola come forward to get treatment and that steps are taken to prevent the virus from spreading.
Nabarro praised all of those who have offered their services to treat the sick and dying, saying that staff put their lives on the line while accepting that they are working in a high risk environment.
The number of people who are working with Ebola patients in their own countries continues to increase. Nabarro said that more people are needed with relevant medical or organisational skills from outside the infected countries, with international staff increasingly being used as trainers.
