Ebola 'far from over'

The move coincided with UN chief Ban Ki-moon's regional tour to assess the fight against the epidemic. Frank Dörner, the former General Director of MSF - Germany recently returned from Sierra Leone and spoke with DW.

DW: What is the current situation on the ground?

Frank Dörner: Overall one can say that at this very moment the Ebola epidemic is still in full swing in parts of West Africa. The international answer to this situation has been rather slow and not effective enough at the very beginning. Now that it starts to really deploy, it needs more effort from the international side we think. In Sierra Leone the numbers are still and steadily going up. We see as an average, 40-50 new cases every day according to official figures. And there are a lot of non declared cases as well.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon during his first tour of the countries stricken with the virus said,"the Ebola mission should be closed once the battle is won." In your opinion, what do you make of his statement? Is it a signal that the battle against Ebola will be won sooner than later?

From our perspective it is by far not under control and at this moment it still needs a lot of effort from all sides and we consider the year 2015 as the year when we will need a major effort by the international community to make Ebola controllable in the three most affected countries.

And to what extent has the presence of the UN mission been effective in fulfilling its mission?

Well that's difficult to say. I have only been in Sierra Leone so I can only judge from that country's efforts recently and coordination is a major challenge for all those involved. One has to really consider that the public health system was very weak at the onset of the Ebola epidemic and it affected a lot of health workers. The system is completely broken down. It is very, very difficult for outsiders to come in and try to coordinate and to organize. We think that the efforts are late and also not very effective from the onset so one can only hope that from now on it gets better.

We are beginning a new year 2015. What do you think the international community should do to make sure the situation improves?

From our perspective it is very important to not let go of the political, social and media interest of the Ebola epidemic in Africa, because it is by far not over. I have to be clear, the people deserve our help. They deserve that we don't lose sight of the situation and that we do everything possible to help people there to prevent further spread of the disease and to also build up the primary health care system again because everything has been broken down due to the Ebola epidemic. People are not dying just because of Ebola but they are also dying because of other diseases which could be prevented and cared for.

Do you see this situation improving any time soon?

Well from my perspective which is also Sierra Leone's perspective I think things are by far not the way it should be at this very moment and we have to consider that it will continue for the next month if not for the next year and I can only say that we need more efforts. We need a consistent approach and a well coordinated level of international and regional support and efforts.

Frank Dörner is a former general director of Medecins sans frontieres (MSF)

Interviewer: Isaac Mugabi