A look at US response to Ebola crisis

WASHINGTON (AP) — A look at some of the initiatives President Barack Obama is announcing to ramp up the U.S. response to West Africa’s Ebola crisis:

— Assigning 3,000 U.S. forces to Monrovia, Liberia, where they will provide command and control support in the region for U.S. military activities and facilitate coordination with U.S. government and international relief efforts. A U.S. Army general will lead the effort.

— Help build 17 new health care facilities in the region with 100 beds each.

— Deploy 65 officers from the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps to manage and staff a previously announced Department of Defense hospital to care for health care workers who become ill.

— Establish a site in the region to train up to 500 health care providers per week to help them safely provide medical care to Ebola patients.

— Airlift 50,000 home health care kits to Liberia that can be used by people in remote communities. The U.S. will also train local populations on how to handle patients exposed to Ebola.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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