WHO calls for emergency Ebola meeting

World Health Organization is convening a special meeting of Ministers of Health of eleven countries and partners involved in the Ebola outbreak response in Accra, Ghana from 2-3 July 2014 to discuss the best way of tackling the crisis collectively as well as develop a comprehensive inter country operational response plan.
Health officials from 11 countries are meeting in Accra to discuss how to put an end to the crisis. More than 400 people have died in what has now become the worst Ebola outbreak in history, according to the BBC.
Most of the deaths have been in Guinea but there are an increasing number of cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Health ministers from the three affected countries will join officials from neighbouring Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea Bissau and Senegal, as well as Uganda, DRC, Gambia and hosts Ghana.
On Tuesday, the WHO said the death toll in West Africa had risen to 467, with 68 of the deaths recorded since 23 June. The number of cases had risen from 635 on 23 June to 759, a 20% increase, the WHO added.
Experts on the ground say one of the key reasons for the continuing spread is the fear and denial around the illness. Some communities are said to be hiding loved ones who get sick, instead of taking them to hospital, increasing the risk of the virus spreading.
The WHO has already sent more than 150 experts into West Africa over the last few months to try and contain the outbreak. Most of the deaths have been centred in the southern Guekedou region of Guinea, where the outbreak was first reported in February.
But health officials say the regions porous borders have allowed infected people to carry the disease into other countries.