At the same time, “this epidemic is far from over,” said Mr. Klain, who will step down on Friday. “There’s a lot of work left to be done. We have to get all the way to zero, and we’re not going to stop until that’s achieved.” Evidence is mounting that the spread of Ebola has slowed considerably in West Africa, particularly in Liberia. Four months ago, well over 1,000 cases were reported every week in West Africa, and some public health officials estimated that the death total could reach one million by the end of January. Instead, there were about 9,000 deaths, and Liberia is now reporting only a handful each week — a dozen in the past three weeks. Mr. Obama approved plans to withdraw the troops at a National Security Council meeting in late January, the officials said. He told advisers at the time that he wanted to speak publicly about it, both to thank the military personnel and to make it clear that the Ebola effort would continue. But the signs of progress come with substantial caveats. Mr. Obama’s advisers say Ebola will remain a concern until the virus is stamped out, and public health officials are not close to achieving that goal. There has been a slight increase in cases in Guinea over the past several weeks, and in Sierra Leone the steep decline in cases has leveled off, indicating challenges in containing the disease there.
The administration plans to shift its focus from procedures like isolating patients and carrying out safe burial practices. Instead, it will step up efforts to track patients and their contacts on a case-by-case basis, officials said. The 100 troops who will remain in Liberia will maintain the American-built health care centers as a safeguard should a sudden resurgence of the virus require United States forces to return quickly — a development that an official said the administration believed was “extremely unlikely.” The military will also leave behind some equipment, such as testing laboratories, that were monitored by military personnel, with the remaining troops training Liberians to operate them. In addition, the United States is financing the current response effort in West Africa, which includes 2,000 “disease detectives” who are in charge of tracing new Ebola patients’ contacts, with the goal of eradicating the disease. It is not clear how the administration will ensure that the 15 Ebola treatment centers in Liberia, the last of which was completed just last month, will remain available to patients in the event of a flare-up. Some of the facilities will be maintained at least through the end of the rainy season in October, an official said, while others will be transformed into preventive-care centers. Mr. Obama, who won bipartisan support late last year for his $6 billion emergency financing request in the fight against Ebola, does not plan to request any new money for the effort, officials said. About $2.5 billion is financing Ebola response efforts overseas. Roughly $3 billion is dedicated to United States efforts to better confront Ebola and other infectious disease outbreaks. American officials expect to use the Ebola airport-screening and patient-tracking protocols in other disease crises. Passengers arriving from affected countries fill out forms that are sent to the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency and to state and local health officials. The patients are screened and issued identification numbers and prepaid cellphones that health workers use to track them daily for three weeks, Ebola’s incubation period. About 1,150 people are being tracked, and Mr. Klain receives daily updates. The administration has yet to exhaust the $750 million in Pentagon financing that was transferred for use in humanitarian efforts in October to pay for the Ebola deployment, an administration official said. Initial plans called for 4,000 troops in West Africa, but American military officials said in November that the number could be reduced as infections slowed. The first of the troops returned to the United States in December, and a total of 1,500 have come home, the officials said. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/11/world/africa/obama-to-bring-most-military-personnel-fighting-ebola-home-officials-say.html?_r=0
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
