According to the Ebola Response Roadmap (2014), their objective is to halt the spread of Ebola within 6 to 9 months; ultimately preventing the Ebola virus from being spread internationally. Due the rapid transmission rate of Ebola in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, WHO launched an Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak Response Plan on July 31, 2014. It has been reported that over 3,000 people have been infected with the Ebola Virus and 1,400 people have died; many of them being volunteer healthcare workers. As a result of this, the national authorities in conjunction with WHO and other partners have increased control measures to keep the virus contained.
Although there is a great effort being made to contain the Ebola virus, the record outbreak is still being transmitted at an alarming rate. The Ebola Response Roadmap outlines three major objectives: to attain nationwide coverage with corresponding Ebola response in the countries that have a vast transmission rate, to employ immediate response teams to areas with contained transmissions and/or with primary cases, and to promptly detect and respond to all Ebola cases in a timely manner (Ebola Response Roadmap, 2014).
The Emergency Response Framework outlines three levels for responding to an outbreak. A Level 1 emergency is a single country or multiple countries with a minimal threat which requires a minimal scale response. A Level 2 emergency is single or multiple countries with a moderate threat which requires a moderately scaled response. A Level 3 emergency is a single or multiple countries with an extensive threat which requires a large scale response (Emergency Response Framework, 2014). Due to the Ebola outbreak being upgraded from a Level 2 response to a Level 3 response, the WHO and local governments applied their response plans to assist the West African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak. The objective of the WHO and local governments partnership is to have faster response times, as well as being prepared for all possible scenarios. From March 27th to April 10th of 2014, WHO received 4.8 million in funding. Additional funding amounting to $7, 006,230 were supplied to WHO from multiple donors; these funds supported WHO activities from March 2014 to June 2014. As of July 2014, all of these funds had been depleted. In response to the massive Ebola outbreak; WHO is launching the Ebola Virus Disease Response Plan from July to December 2014. It is the WHO’s hope that donors will continue donate funds (Emergency Response Framework, 2014). After further evaluation of the Ebola outbreak and the resources needed to combat the virus, it is anticipated that more money will be needed because the number of Ebola cases is still on the rise.