On Tuesday, President Obama is announcing the deployment of up to 3,000 military personnel to Africa. The enemy this time is Ebola, specifically the West African outbreak that has killed at least 2,200 people so far. The U.S. military will initially provide logistical and medical support to Liberia, which is struggling to cope with, much less stop, the exponential spread of the deadly virus.
The U.S. military has already committed to building a 25-bed portable hospital in Liberia, but Obama is expected to announce the construction of 17 Ebola treatment centers in the region, with some 1,700 treatment beds. Along with building facilities to quarantine and treat Ebola patients, the U.S. military will train up to 500 local health workers a week to handle the disease and the crisis.
The White House plan also includes sending additional doctors and experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other agencies, tens of thousands of Ebola tests, and 400,000 kits to treat Ebola in-home. The U.S. has spent more than $100 million responding to West Africa's Ebola outbreak so far.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
A whole new world: redrawing the Mercator mapUnder the Radar African Union joins calls to ditch 'colonial distortion' and portray countries at more accurate size
-
'Enforcement of rulings remains spotty at best'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Book reviews: 'King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution' and 'Gwyneth: The Biography'Feature How the Iranian Revolution began and Gwyneth Paltrow's life in the spotlight
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last yearspeed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
