World Bank chief asks for 5,000 medical workers to travel to Africa to fight Ebola

Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, said at a conference in Ethiopia that at least 5,000 medical workers need to volunteer to go to Africa and fight the Ebola outbreak.

"With the fear factor going out of control in so many places, I hope health care professionals will understand that when they took their oath to become a health care worker, it was precisely for moments like this," Kim said. "Right now, I'm very much worried about where we will find those health care workers."

Kim accompanied U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and African Union Chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on his visit to Ethiopia. Ban said that travel restrictions to afflicted countries would "severely curtail efforts to beat the disease," the BBC reports. The outbreak in West Africa has killed almost 5,000 people so far, according to estimates from the World Health Organization.

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