MONROVIA, May 10 (LINA)-– The international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders (MSF)) has welcomed news of Liberia’s declaration as an Ebola-free nation by the World Health Organization (WHO).

MSF in a press release issued Saturday, said it was welcome news that Liberia has completed the 42 days with no recorded cases of Ebola, but warned that, with new cases of Ebola still being recorded in neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone, the outbreak is not over yet.

“For Liberia to record 42 days with zero cases of Ebola is a real milestone,” says MariateresaCacciapuoti, MSF’s head of mission in Liberia. “But we can’t take our foot off the gas until all three countries record 42 days with no cases.”

MSF stressed the need to improve cross-border surveillance to prevent Ebola re-emerging in Liberia. “The Liberian government and the Liberian people have worked hard to help us achieve 42 days of zero Ebola cases, but that hard work could be undone in an instant,” says Ms Cacciapuoti.

Nearly two hundred Liberian health workers died after contracting Ebola, and the epidemic decimated the country’s already fragile national health system. “It’s time for health needs to be addressed as a priority,” says Ms Cacciapuoti, adding, “Liberians must feel confident they can go to hospital once again and have their healthcare needs looked after. The international community must support Liberia – and Guinea and Sierra Leone – in rebuilding a strong and affordable national health system with adequate human and material resources.”

MSF released a report titled "Pushed to the Limit and Beyond," in late March, in which it said the Ebola epidemic has exposed ”the weakness of health systems in developing countries [and] the paralysis and sluggishness of international aid”.

The report highlighted the “global coalition of inaction” that dragged on for several months before the international community woke up to the threat of Ebola – despite repeated pleas from MSF for help.

“Quite simply, we were all too late. The world – including MSF – was slow to start the response from the beginning,” says Henry Gray, head of MSF Ebola operations in Brussels. “That lesson has been learnt, at the cost of thousands of lives, and we can only hope it will prevent the same thing happening again in the future.”

LINA/TSS