Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said Ebola has killed more than 2,000 people in her country and has brought it to "a standstill", noting that Liberia and two other badly hit countries were already weakened by years of war.
Appealing for more international help, Sirleaf described the devastating effects of Ebola in a "Letter to the World" that was broadcast on Monday by the BBC.
"Across West Africa, a generation of young people risk being lost to an economic catastrophe as harvests are missed, markets are shut and borders are closed," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said. "The virus has been able to spread so rapidly because of the insufficient strength of the emergency, medical and military services that remain under-resourced."
In neighboring Sierra Leone, emergency food rations were distributed for a third day today to give a nutritional lifeline to 260,000 residents of an Ebola-stricken community on the outskirts of the capital, Freetown.
The Waterloo area has 350 houses under quarantine with people suspected of having the Ebola virus and infections in the district are rising, according to the UN World Food Program.
Packets with food for 30 days were delivered to the quarantined homes and to Ebola patients at treatment centers. The rest of Waterloo's residents went to 60 distribution centers to receive the food supplies.
The mass distribution, which started on Friday, for the most part went smoothly but was disrupted at two of the 60 distribution points by people pressing to get the food, said Gon Myers, WFP director in Sierra Leone.
The emergency food deliveries came as the international community ramps up its response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which continues to spread.
The total death toll has risen to more than 4,500 people from the 9,000 infected, according to the World Health Organization.
Although Senegal has been declared free of Ebola and Nigeria is expected to get the all clear, the epidemic remains out of control in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. WHO warns that by December there could be as many as 10,000 new infections per week.
Fourteen other West African countries have been identified as at risk and steps are being taken to prepare them, said Isabelle Nuttall, director of WHO's global capacities.
The United Nations has established a regional headquarters for the response to Ebola in Accra, Ghana.
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