Obama Calls Home US Ebola Workers

President Barack Obama, noting the decline in the number of new Ebola cases in West Africa, said Wednesday that nearly all of the remaining 1,300 American troops currently fighting the outbreak in the affected countries would return home.

At the height of the epidemic, some 2,800 U.S. military personnel were deployed to West Africa to help contain the virus, which so far has claimed more than 9,000 lives in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Now, nearly five months after Obama committed troops to help stem the outbreak, he said all but 100 would be home by April 30.

The announcement was made "not to declare mission accomplished, but to mark a transition," Obama said. "Thanks to the hard work of our nearly 3,000 troops who deployed to West Africa, logistics have been set up, Ebola treatment units have been built [and] over 1,500 African health workers have been trained.”

Flanked by health care workers, members of the U.S. military and Ebola survivors, Obama thanked those on the front lines of the fight and emphasized that while the United States was winding down its military response, it was expanding its civilian response.

In the 10 months since the first American personnel deployed to West Africa, the president said, the U.S. has helped treat Ebola patients, trace their contacts, promote safe burials and galvanized the international response.

He said the number of new cases in the region had gone from nearly a 1,000 a week in October to roughly 150 per week today.

“Our focus now is getting to zero," Obama said. "Because as long as there is even one case of Ebola that’s active out there, risks still exist. Every case is an ember that, if not contained, can light a new fire.”

This message was reinforced this week by Dr. David Nabarro, the U.N. special envoy on Ebola, while referencing a recent uptick of new cases in Guinea.

“The outbreak still presents a grave threat," he said, "and we really hope that there will be no complacency in anybody involved in the response.”

Nabarro said that in addition to getting the number of cases and transmissions to zero, affected countries would also have to focus on rebuilding their economies and their health systems.

美国总统奥巴马宣布，几乎所有1300名留在西非抗击埃博拉疫情的美国军人将返回美国。白宫把美国抗击埃博拉取得成效以及疫情国家新增感染病例的数量呈下降趋势作为撤回美军的原因。

在埃博拉疫情最严重的时候，美国派遣了约2800名军事人员前往西非，帮助控制疫情蔓延。到目前为止，埃博拉已经导致几内亚、塞拉利昂和利比里亚9000多人死亡。

现在，即在奥巴马派遣美国军人前往那些国家修建治疗中心和其它基础设施以遏制疫情蔓延的将近5个月后，他星期三宣布，除100名军人外，其他人将于4月30日前返回美国。

奥巴马说：“这不是宣布任务已经完成，而是标志着一个过渡。感谢派到西非的近3000名军人的辛勤工作，后勤设施已经建起来了，埃博拉治疗中心也建起来了，1500多名非洲医务人员也培训好了。”

奥巴马总统讲话时身旁站着医务人员、美国军人和治愈的埃博拉患者。他对战斗在一线的人员表示了感谢。他还强调说，美国虽然逐步减少了军事人员应对埃博拉，但正在扩大非军事方面的援助。

奥巴马说，自从美国10个月前派遣了第一批医务人员前往西非，美国帮助治疗了埃博拉患者、追踪了这些患者曾经接触过的人、推广了安全的丧葬方式、并且调动了国际社会一起来应对埃博拉。

他说，西非地区的新增感染病例已从去年10月的每周近1000例下降到现在的每周约150例。

奥巴马说：“我们现在关注的重点是使新增病例减少到零。因为只要那里有一个埃博拉病例，风险就仍然存在。每一个病例就好比是余烬，如果不控制，就有可能死灰复燃。”

联合国埃博拉问题特使大卫•纳巴罗博士（David Nabarro）在谈到最近几内亚新增病例数量有所上升时，也强调了这一点。

他说：“疫情现在仍构成严重威胁。我们希望，参与应对疫情的任何人都不要感到自满。”

纳巴罗说，除了把感染病例降为零外，疫情国家还应把重点放在重建经济和卫生系统上。