US Health officials Visit Liberia, Guinea
The U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, Karen DeSalvo, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs, Jimmy Kolker, and Deputy Chief of Staff Dawn O’Connel will visit Liberia and Guinea for three days this week to visit Ebola response sites in the region, the U.S. embassy here has disclosed.
In Liberia, they will tour the Monrovia Medical Unit (MMU), a 25-bed field hospital dedicated to providing care to health care workers who become infected with Ebola, and the Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research, one of only a few laboratories in Liberia where Ebola specimens are sent to be tested. They will also meet with key representatives from the Government of Liberia, the World Health Organization and additional U.S. agencies involved in the Ebola response.
The MMU is staffed by the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, an elite uniformed service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. U.S. Deputy Surgeon General RADM Boris D. Lushniak is currently the commanding officer of the MMU.
In Guinea, Dr. DeSalvo and Assistant Secretary Kolker will visit the 115 Call Center, Boulbinet Health Center, and the Emergency Operations Center. They will also meet with leaders in Guinea, including Prime Minister, Mohamed Fofana, and the Minster of Health, Colonel Remy Lamah, as well as representatives from Doctors without Borders, French Red Cross, and other agencies working to eradicate Ebola in Guinea.
