Botswana calls for global efforts to save West Africa from grip of Ebola virus

Botswana on Monday said that the deadly Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa is a public health catastrophe and "a serious setback to the achievement" of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), calling on the international community to do its best to save the West African region from this crisis.

The statement came as Phandu Skelemani, foreign minister of Botswana, was taking the floor at the ongoing annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, which entered its fifth day here Monday.

"The outbreak of the deadly Ebola evolving into a public health catastrophe is a serious setback to the achievement of MDGs," said the foreign minister. MDGs are a set of eight anti-poverty targets to be reached by 2015.

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are the three hardest-hit countries by Ebola virus outbreak in the region, where more than 2, 900 people have been killed by the disease since its outbreak early this year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that if the disease is not brought under control, the number of cases could easily rise to 20,000 by early as November.

"We therefore implore this Assembly to call on all partners and organizations of goodwill to spare no effort in rescuing the West African region from this scourge," he said.

The United Nations has been leading the global efforts to fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.