As
US
Power Heads to
Ebola Zone,
Ban Canceled
Citing
Disruption,
Immunity Qs
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 25 --
While the UN
struggles on
Ebola to be
relevant
and not
entirely
overshadowed
by the United
States, as on
so many
issues under
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, on
October 25 US
Ambassador to
the UN
Samantha Power
took off for
the Ebola hot
zone,
scribes in
tow.
Ban
Ki-moon, by
contrast,
canceled plans
to visit the
same
countries; his
spokesman was
quoted
that "a trip
to the
impacted
countries was
indeed
envisaged but
no final
decision was
ever made to
go ahead.
It's important
to balance the
benefits of
these types of
travels
against the
disruption
that may be
caused to both
the U.N. team
on
the ground and
the national
governments,
who already
have their
hands
full, by a
visit of the
secretary-general."
So
is a visit by
a US cabinet
member LESS
disruptive?
As
with New York
City Mayor
Bill De Blasio
on October 25
eating in the
Meatball Shop
in Manhattan's
West Village,
where now
Ebola-sticken
doctor Craig
Spencer ate on
October 21,
Power's visit
sends a
message
against
over-reaction.
President
Barack
Obama's hug of
nurse Nina
Pham was along
the same line
-- but
the decision
to limit it to
a photo op and
exclude even
the print
pooler has
been
criticized
even by Andrea
Mitchell. (The
White House
press corps is
notably less
deferential to
Obama than the
UN scribes
are to Ban
Ki-moon, to
whom they
PROVIDE photo
ops, to
which the new
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
objects.)
De
Blasio as New
York City
Mayor has said
that New York
State governor
Andrew Cuomo
provided no
notice of his
and his New
Jersey
counterpart
Chris
Christie's
decision to
quarantine
anyone
returning from
Ebola
hot zone who
has had
contact with
Ebola
patients.
Without
asking
how this may
apply to the
US Mission
trip -- which
left from
Washington --
Inner City
Press has a
more
UN-specific
question: does
it apply to UN
personnel,
with their
blue laissez
passe
passports and
immunity?
That is, while
the US
is defending
the UN's
immunity for
bringing
cholera to
Haiti,
would UN
personnel use
that same
immunity
to work-around
the New York
and New Jersey
restrictions?
Watch this
site.
Back
on September
25 after a
Senior US
State
Department
Official said
that the US'
PEPFAR funding
had strengthen
health systems
allowing prior
Ebola
outbreaks in
East Africa
and the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo to be
rapidly
contained,
Inner City
Press asked
the official
what the US
and PEPFAR had
been doing in
Liberia,
Sierra Leone
and Guinea.
Transcript
here and
below.
PEPFAR is the
U.S.
President’s
Emergency Plan
for AIDS
Relief.
The US
official said
ruefully,
“PEPFAR does
not have
resources in
those three
countries.
They had very
low HIV
prevalence
from the
beginning and
were not a
significant
investment
country. Over
the last
several years
we have have
been investing
$500,000 a
year in Sierra
Leone to
support their
TB laboratory
diagnosis. But
we've had very
limited
support of
those
countries.”
And
that may be
one of the
problems. Click
here to view
map.
Looking
forward,
the UN says
4000 of its
staff applied
by a September
24 to be
deployed to
the new UNMEER
Ebola response
mission, to be
headquartered
in Accra,
Ghana. Inner
City Press
asked a Senior
State
Department
Official -- a
different one
-- how the US'
4000 people
will interface
with the UN
mission. (Click
here for
Inner City
Press' story
on what this
other US
official said
about South
Sudan.)
The US
official
replied, “we
are working
closely with
UN, we have to
coordinate.
The UN will
put its
headquarters
in Accra.
USAID will
have some
people working
closely with,
embedded with
them in
Accra.”
Now
that US has in
essence
adopted
Liberia,
sending 4000
people to
respond to
Ebola, with
the UK similar
adopting its
former colony
Sierra Leone,
and France its
former colony
Guinea, the
question
arises or
remains how
these
countries were
left so
under-developed.
Watch this
site.
From
the US
transcript:
MODERATOR:
Okay. So, open
up for
questions.
Name and
outlet,
please.
INNER
CITY PRESS:
Sure. I’m
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Inner City
Press... With
all the talk
of the medical
infrastructure
in Liberia,
Sierra Leone,
and Guinea
being so weak
that it’s
collapsed,
what were the
programs
there? Was
there – are
these – I
mean, do these
countries
stand out as
having very
weak systems?
Or is this
(inaudible)?
SENIOR
STATE
DEPARTMENT
OFFICIAL:
Yeah, thank
you for those
questions.
PEPFAR does
not have
resources in
those three
countries you
just
mentioned.
They had very
low HIV
prevalence
from the
beginning and
were not a
significant
investment
country. Over
the last
several years,
we’ve been
investing
about $500,000
a year in
Sierra Leone
to support
their TB
laboratory
diagnosis, but
we’ve had very
limited
support in
those three
countries.
I
wanted to call
your attention
– this gives
me a great
opportunity to
call your
attention to
our website at
PEPFAR.gov.
INNER
CITY PRESS:
Okay, thanks.
MODERATOR:
Other
questions? No?
All right.
Well, thank
you very much.
, 
