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David Jackson, USA TODAY 12:12 p.m. EDT April 15, 2015
President Obama with leaders from West Africa.(Photo: Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — President Obama told the leaders of three West African nations Wednesday that the United States will continue to help them until the Ebola virus is fully eradicated.
"We're proud to partner with you and we intend to see this through until the job is done," Obama told the presidents of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, all hit hard in recent years by Ebola.
The United States and other countries have provided facilities and material as the West African nations battle the deadly virus. Ebola has killed more than 10,000 people since the African outbreak more than a year ago.
Obama met at the White House with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Guinean President Alpha Conde, and Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma. The U.S. president said he called the meeting "to assess progress today and to look ahead."
Liberia has had no new Ebola cases, and there were fewer than 40 cases in the region last week, the lowest level in more than a year, Obama said.
While there has been "major progress," Obama said, "now we're focused on a shared goal, and that is getting to zero. We can't be complacent. This virus is unpredictable."
Ebola has also damaged West African economies, Obama said, and he spoke to the leaders about their plans to revive growth. The president noted that the African leaders are also talking to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund about economic assistance.
"The Ebola epidemic," he said, "has been also an economic crisis."
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