Ban Ki-moon praises healthcare workers in Ebola-hit African countries

During a trip to Sierra Leone and Liberia the United Nation’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has praised healthcare workers fighting the Ebola virus.

Over 7,000 people have died since the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa.

Ban visited an Ebola treatment centre in the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown. The country’s government has been battling to contain Ebola. Sierra Leone accounts for more than half of the total number of people who have contracted the virus.

Ban, who has pledged further support in tackling the deadly outbreak, is expected to travel to Guinea and Mali before heading to Ghana and the headquarters of the UN Ebola response mission.

Officials from the United Nations and healthcare workers claim that many people in the worst affected countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have been slow to change their cultural practices. Others have denied the existence of the Ebola virus.