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When I was asked to, invited, rather,
to give this talk a couple of months ago

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we discussed a number
of titles with the organizers

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and a lot of different titles
were kicked around and were discussed,

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but nobody suggested
this one that you see here today.

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The reason for that was, two months ago,

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Ebola was escalating exponentially

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and spreading over wider geographic areas
than we had ever seen

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and the world was terrified, concerned,
and alarmed by this disease

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in a way we've not seen in recent history.

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But today, I can stand here
and I can talk to you about beating Ebola

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because of people
whom you've never heard of,

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people like Peter Clement,

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a Liberian doctor,
who's working in Lofa County,

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a place that many of you
have never heard of, probably, in Liberia.

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The reason that Lofa County
is so important

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is because about five months ago,

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when the epidemic
was just starting to escalate,

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Lofa County was right at the center,
the epicenter of this epidemic.

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At that time,
MSF and the treatment center there,

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were seeing dozens of patients
every single day,

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and these patients, these communities,
were becoming more and more terrified

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as time went by, with this disease
and what it was doing to their families,

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to their communities,
to their children, to their relatives.

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And so Peter Clement was charged with
driving that 12-hour-long rough road

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from Monrovia, the capital,
up to Lofa County

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to try and help bring control
to the escalating epidemic there.

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And what Peter found when he arrived
was a terror that I just mentioned to you.

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So he sat down with the local chiefs,
and he listened.

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And what he heard was heartbreaking.

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He heard about the devastation
and the desperation of people

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affected by this disease.

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He heard the heartbreaking stories

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about not just the damage
that Ebola did to people,

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but what it did to families,
and what it did to communities.

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And he listened to the local chiefs
there, and what they told him --

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They said: "When our children are sick,
when our children are dying,

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we can't hold them at a time
when we want to be closest to them.

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When our relatives die, we can't take care
of them as our tradition demands.

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We are not allowed to wash
the bodies to bury them

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the way our communities
and our rituals demand.

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And for this reason,

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they were deeply disturbed,
deeply alarmed

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and the entire epidemic
was unraveling in front of them.

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People were turning on
the healthcare workers who had come,

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the heroes who come to try
and help save the community,

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to help work with the community,
and they were unable to access them.

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And what happened then was
Peter explained to the leaders.

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The leaders listened.
They turned the tables.

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And Peter explained what Ebola was.
He explained what the disease was.

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He explained what it did
to their communities,

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and he explained that Ebola threatened
everything that made us human:

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Ebola means you can't hold your children
the way you would in this situation,

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you can't bury your dead
the way that you would,

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you have to trust these people
in the space suits to do that for you.

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And ladies and gentlemen,

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what happened then
was rather extraordinary:

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the community, health workers,
and Peter sat down together

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and they put together a new plan
for controlling Ebola in that Lofa County.

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And the reason that this is
such an important story,

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ladies and gentlemen,

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is because today, this County,

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which is right at the center
of this epidemic you've been watching,

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you've been seeing on the newspapers,

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you've been seeing
on the television screens,

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today, Lofa County is nearly eight weeks
without seeing a single case of Ebola.

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(Applause)

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This doesn't mean
that the job is done, obviously;

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there's still a huge risk
that there'll be additional cases there,

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but what it does teach us
is that Ebola can be beaten.

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That's the key thing.

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Even on the scale,

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even with the rapid kind of growth
that we saw in this environment here,

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we now know Ebola can be beaten.

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When communities come together
with healthcare workers, work together,

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that's when this disease can be stopped.

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But how did Ebola end up
in Lofa County in the first place?

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Well, for that, we have to go back
12 months, to the start of this epidemic.

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And as many you know,
this virus went undetected,

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it evaded detection
for three or four months when it began.

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That's because this is not
a disease of West Africa,

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it's a disease of Central Africa,
half a continent away.

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People hadn't seen the disease before;

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health workers hadn't seen
the disease before.

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They didn't know
what they were dealing with.

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And to make it
even more complicated,

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the virus itself was causing a symptom,
a type of a presentation

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that wasn't classical of the disease,

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so people didn't even recognize
the disease, people who knew Ebola.

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For that reason it evaded
detection for some time,

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but contrary to public belief
sometimes these days,

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once the virus was detected,
there was a rapid surge in of support.

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MSF rapidly set up an Ebola treatment
center as many of you know, in the area.

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The World Health Organization
and the partners it works with deployed

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eventually hundreds of people
over the next two months

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to be able to help track the virus.

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The problem, ladies and gentlemen, is

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by then, this virus, well known
now as Ebola, had spread too far.

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It had already outstripped
what was one of the largest responses

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that had been mounted so far
to an Ebola outbreak.

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By the middle of the year,

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not just Guinea but now Sierra Leone
and Liberia were also infected.

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The virus was spreading geographically,
the numbers were increasing,

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and at this time,

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not only were hundreds of people
infected and dying of the disease

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but as importantly,

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the front line responders, the people
who had gone to try and help,

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the healthcare workers,
the other responders

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were also sick and dying by the dozens.

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The presidents of these countries
recognized the emergencies.

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They met right around that time,

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they agreed on common action,
and they put together

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an emergency joint operation center
in Conakry

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to try and work together to finish
this disease and get it stopped,

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to implement the strategies
we talked about.

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But what happened then was something
we had never seen before with Ebola.

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What happened then was the virus,
or someone sick with the virus,

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boarded an airplane,
flew to another country,

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and for the first time,

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we saw in another distant country
the virus pop up again.

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This time it was in Nigeria,

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in the teeming metropolis
of Lagos, 21 million people;

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now the virus was in that environment.

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And as you can anticipate, there was
international alarm, international concern

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on a scale that we haven't seen
in recent years

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caused by a disease like this.

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The World Health Organization immediately
called together an expert panel,

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looked at the situation,
declared an international emergency.

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And in doing so, the expectation would be

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that there be a huge outpouring
of international assistance

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to help these countries which were in
so much trouble and concern at that time.

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But what we saw
was something very different.

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There was some great response.

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A number of countries came to assist
- many NGOs and others, as you know -

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but at the same time,
the opposite happened in many places.

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Alarm escalated, and very soon,

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these countries found themselves

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not receiving the support they needed
but increasingly isolated.

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What we saw was commercial airlines
[stopped] flying into these countries,

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and people who hadn't even been
exposed to the virus

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were no longer allowed to travel.

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This caused not only problems,
obviously, for the countries themselves

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but also for the response.

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Those organizations
that we're trying to bring people in,

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to try and help them
respond to the outbreak,

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could not get people on airplanes,

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couldn't get them into the countries
to be able to respond.

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In that situation, ladies and gentleman,
a virus like Ebola takes advantage.

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And what we saw then was something
also we hadn't seen before:

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not only did this virus
continue in the places

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where they'd already become infected
but then it started to escalate

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and we saw the case numbers
that you see here,

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something we never seen
before on such a scale,

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and exponential increase of Ebola cases

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not just in these countries or the areas
already infected in these countries

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but also spreading further
and deeper into these countries.

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Ladies and gentleman,

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this was one of the most concerning,
international emergencies in public health

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we've ever seen.

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And what happened
in these countries then,

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many of you saw, again, on the television,
read about in the newspapers,

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we saw the health system start to collapse
under the weight of this epidemic.

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We saw the schools begin to close,

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markets no longer functioned the way
that they should in these countries.

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We saw the misinformation,
the misperceptions, started to spread

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even faster through the communities

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which became even more alarmed
about the situation.

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They started to recoil

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from those people that you saw
in those space suits, as they call them,

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who had come to help them.

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And then the situation
deteriorated even further:

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the countries had to declare
a state of emergency,

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large populations need to be quarantined
in some areas, and then riots broke out.

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It was a very, very terrifying situation.

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And the world, many people began to ask:

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"Can we ever stop Ebola
when it starts to spread like this?"

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And they started to ask: "How well
do we really know this virus?"

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The reality is we don't know
Ebola extremely well.

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It's a relatively modern disease
in terms of what we know about it

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we've known the disease only for 40 years

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since it first popped up
in Central Africa in 1976.

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But despite that, we do know many things:

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we know that this virus probably
survives in a type of a bat,

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we know that it probably enters
a human population

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when we come in contact with a wild animal

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that has been infected with the virus
and probably sickened by it.

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Then we know that the virus
spreads from person to person

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through contaminated body fluids.

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And as you've all seen,

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we know the horrific disease
that it then causes in humans,

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where we see this disease caused
severe fevers, diarrhea, vomiting,

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and then, unfortunately, and in 70%
of the cases or often more, death.

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This is a very dangerous,
debilitating, and deadly disease.

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But despite the fact that we've not known
this disease for a particularly long time,

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and we don't know everything about it,
we do know how to stop this disease.

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There are four things
that are critical to stopping Ebola.

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First and foremost, the communities
have got to understand this disease,

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they've got to understand
how it spreads and how to stop it.

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And then we've got
to be able to have systems

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that could find every single case,
every contact of those cases,

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and begin to track the transmission chain
so that you can stop transmission.

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We have to have treatment centers,
specialized Ebola treatment centers,

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where the workers can be protected

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as they try to provide support
to the people who are infected,

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so that they might survive the disease

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And then, for those who do die,

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we have to ensure there is a safe but at
the same time dignified burial process,

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so that there is no spread
at that time as well.

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So we do know how to stop Ebola,

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and these strategies work,
ladies and gentlemen.

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The virus was stopped in Nigeria
by these four strategies,

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and the people
implementing them, obviously.

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It was stopped in Senegal
where it had spread,

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and also in the other countries

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that were affected by this virus,
in this outbreak.

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So there's no question
that these strategies actually work.

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The big question, ladies and gentlemen,

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was whether these strategies could work
on this scale, in this situation,

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with so many countries affected
with the exponential growth that you saw.

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That was the big question that we were
facing just two for three months ago.

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Today, we know the answer
to that question.

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We know that answer
because of the extraordinary work

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of an incredible group of NGOs,
of governments, of local leaders,

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of UN agencies, and many humanitarian
and other organizations

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that came and joined the fight
to try and stop Ebola in West Africa.

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But what had to be done
there was slightly different.

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These countries took
those strategies I just showed you;

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the communities, the community engagement,
the case finding and contact tracing,

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and they turn them on their head.

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There was so much disease,
they approached it differently.

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What they decided to do was

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they would first try
and slow down this epidemic

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by rapidly building
as many beds as possible

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in specialized treatment centers,

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so that they could prevent the disease
from spreading from those were infected.

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They would rapidly build out
many many burial teams

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so they could safely deal
with the dead,

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and with that, they would try
and slow this outbreak to see

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if it could actually then be controlled

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using the classic approach
of case finding and contact tracing.

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And when I went to West Africa
about three months ago, when I was there,

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what I saw was extraordinary.

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I saw presidents

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opening emergency operation centers
themselves against Ebola

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so that they could personally coordinate,
and oversee, and champion

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00:14:30,673 --> 00:14:34,562
this surge of international support
to try and stop this disease.

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We saw militaries

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from within those countries
and from far beyond,

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coming in to help build
Ebola treatment centers

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that could be used to isolate
those who are sick.

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to help train the community so that they
could actually safely bury their dead

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We saw the Red Cross Movement

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working with its partner agencies
on the ground there

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in a dignified manner themselves.

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And we saw the UN agencies,
the World Food Program,

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build a tremendous air bridge
that could get responders

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to every single corner
of these countries rapidly

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to be able to implement the strategies
that we just talked about.

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What we saw, ladies and gentlemen,
which is probably most impressive,

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was this incredible work
by the governments,

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by the leaders in these countries,
with the communities,

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to try insure
people understood this disease,

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understood the extraordinary things
they'd have to do to try and stop Ebola.

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And as a result, ladies and gentlemen,

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we saw something that we did not know
only two or three months earlier,

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whether or not it would be possible.

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What we saw was

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what you see now in this graph
when we took stock on December 1.

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What we saw was
we could bend that curve, so to speak,

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change this exponential growth,

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and bring some hope back
to the ability to control this outbreak.

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And for this reason, ladies and gentlemen,
there's absolutely no question now

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that we can catch up with this outbreak
in West Africa, and we can beat Ebola.

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The big question though,
that many people are asking,

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even when they saw this curve, [is]:

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"Well, hang on a minute;
that's great, you can slow it down,

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but can you actually
drive it down to zero?"

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We've already answered that question
right back at the beginning of this talk,

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when I spoke about Lofa County in Liberia.

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We told you the story
how Lofa County got to a situation

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where they have not seen Ebola
for eight weeks.

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But there are similar stories
from the other countries as well.

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From Guéckédou in Guinea,

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the first area where the first case
was actually diagnosed.

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We've seen very, very few cases
in the last couple of months,

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and here in Kenema, in Sierra Leone
- another area in the epicenter -

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we have not seen the virus
for more than a couple of weeks.

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Way too early to declare
victory, obviously,

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but evidence, ladies and gentlemen,

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not only can the response
catch up to the disease

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but this disease can be driven to zero.

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The challenge now, of course,
is doing this on the scale needed

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right across these three countries,
and that is a huge challenge.

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Because when you've been at
something for this long, on this scale,

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two other big threats
come in to join the virus.

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00:17:21,845 --> 00:17:24,691
The first of those is complacency,

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00:17:24,692 --> 00:17:27,810
the risk that as this disease curve
starts to bend,

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00:17:27,810 --> 00:17:31,330
the media look elsewhere,
the world looks elsewhere.

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Complacency's always a risk.

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And the other risk, of course, is
when you've been working so hard

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for so long and slept so few hours
over the past months,

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people are tired, people become fatigued,

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and these new risks
start to creep into the response.

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Ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you today
I've just come back from West Africa.

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The people of this countries,
the leaders of these countries,

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are not complacent.

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00:17:56,964 --> 00:18:00,602
They want to drive Ebola
to zero in their countries.

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00:18:00,603 --> 00:18:03,903
And these people, yes they're tired,
but they are not fatigued.

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00:18:03,913 --> 00:18:06,579
They have an energy, they have a courage,

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00:18:06,580 --> 00:18:09,157
they have the strength
to get this finished.

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What they need,
ladies and gentlemen, at this point,

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is the unwavering support
of the international community,

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00:18:15,340 --> 00:18:17,548
to stand with them, to bolster,

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00:18:17,549 --> 00:18:21,307
and bring even more support
at this time, to get the job finished.

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Because finishing Ebola right now means

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turning the tables on this virus
and beginning to hunt it.

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00:18:28,363 --> 00:18:33,634
Remember, this virus, this whole crisis,
rather, started with one case,

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and is going to finish with one case.

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00:18:36,424 --> 00:18:40,675
But it will only finish if those countries
have got enough epidemiologists,

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00:18:40,676 --> 00:18:45,055
enough health workers, enough logisticians
and enough other people working with them

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00:18:45,056 --> 00:18:49,155
to be able to find every one
of those cases, track their contacts,

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00:18:49,156 --> 00:18:52,783
and make sure that this disease
stops once and for all.

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00:18:52,784 --> 00:18:54,700
I can tell you just having come back,

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00:18:54,701 --> 00:18:57,901
they are not complacent,
they are not fatigued,

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and they will finish the job,
if they have the support that they need.

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00:19:01,983 --> 00:19:04,835
Ladies and gentlemen,
you know the story of Ebola,

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00:19:04,836 --> 00:19:08,679
we just told you the story
of Ebola, Ebola can be beaten.

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00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:11,560
Now, we need you to take this story out

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00:19:11,561 --> 00:19:13,591
to tell it to the people who will listen

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00:19:13,592 --> 00:19:16,574
and educate them
on what it means to beat Ebola,

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00:19:16,575 --> 00:19:20,165
and more importantly,
we need you to advocate with the people

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00:19:20,166 --> 00:19:23,716
who can help us bring the resources
we need to these countries,

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00:19:23,717 --> 00:19:25,614
to beat this disease.

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00:19:25,615 --> 00:19:26,992
Ladies and gentleman,

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00:19:26,993 --> 00:19:30,840
there are a lot of people out there
who will survive and will thrive

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00:19:30,841 --> 00:19:34,329
in part because of what you do
to help us beat Ebola.

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00:19:34,330 --> 00:19:35,491
Thank you.

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00:19:35,492 --> 00:19:36,521
(Applause)