Ebola crisis - US says Cuban medical support 'welcome'

Ebola crisis: US says Cuban medical support 'welcome'
16 October 2014 Last updated at 10:44 GMT

The disease has killed about 4,500 people so far, mostly in Liberia,
Guinea and Sierra Leone

Cuba is a "welcome" addition to the fight against Ebola, a senior US
official has said.

A state department spokesman said the Cuban government was doing more
than many others to contain the disease. "We welcome their support," she
said.

The US has maintained an embargo on Cuba for more than five decades.

Last month, Havana announced it would send about 450 medical and support
staff to the region.

The BBC's Will Grant in Havana said that Cuba already had a tradition of
sending its doctors and nurses to Africa before the recent Ebola outbreak.

Cuban officials are hosting a regional summit on the virus next week
involving left-wing Latin American governments.

Health ministers from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador are
expected to attend to discuss how to bolster the region's response to
the Ebola crisis.

So far the outbreak has killed about 4,500 people, mostly in Liberia,
Guinea and Sierra Leone.

On Wednesday the head of a United Nations agency said a food crisis
could soon hit the affected West African states.

Kanayo Nwanze, president of the UN's International Fund for Agriculture,
said farmers in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia had abandoned their
crops because of fear of catching the disease.

The World Health Organization said on Thursday that a major Ebola
outbreak in the West was unlikely.

Source: BBC News - Ebola crisis: US says Cuban medical support 'welcome'
- http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29643303