0:00:00.697,0:00:02.863 When I was asked to - [br]invited, rather, 0:00:02.863,0:00:05.362 to give this talk [br]a couple of months ago 0:00:05.362,0:00:08.893 we discussed a number [br]of titles with the organizers 0:00:08.893,0:00:12.308 and a lot of different items were [br]kicked around and were discussed, 0:00:12.308,0:00:14.349 but nobody suggested this one 0:00:14.349,0:00:17.278 and the reason for that was,[br]two months ago 0:00:17.278,0:00:20.190 Ebola was escalating exponentially 0:00:20.190,0:00:24.553 and spreading over wider geographic areas[br]than we had ever seen 0:00:24.553,0:00:27.822 and the world was terrified, [br]concerned and alarmed 0:00:27.822,0:00:32.790 by this disease, in a way we've not [br]seen in recent history. 0:00:32.790,0:00:36.610 But today, I can stand here [br]and I can talk to you 0:00:36.610,0:00:38.956 about beating Ebola, 0:00:38.956,0:00:42.651 because of people [br]whom you've never heard of, 0:00:42.651,0:00:45.416 people like Peter Clement, 0:00:45.416,0:00:49.815 a Liberian doctor,[br]who's working in Lofa county, 0:00:49.815,0:00:55.294 a place that many of you have [br]never heard of, probably, in Liberia. 0:00:55.294,0:00:57.684 The reason that Lofa county [br]is so important 0:00:57.684,0:01:00.115 is because [br]about five months ago, 0:01:00.115,0:01:04.533 when the epidemic was [br]just starting to escalate, 0:01:04.533,0:01:09.477 Lofa county was right at the center, [br]the epicenter of this epidemic. 0:01:09.477,0:01:11.742 At that time, MSF [br](Doctors Without Borders) 0:01:11.742,0:01:13.383 and the treatment center there, 0:01:13.383,0:01:16.097 they were seeing dozens of patients [br]every single day, 0:01:16.097,0:01:20.345 and these patients, these communities[br]were becoming more and more terrified 0:01:20.345,0:01:24.713 as time went by, with this disease [br]and what it was doing to their families, 0:01:24.713,0:01:28.329 to their communities, [br]to their children, to their relatives. 0:01:28.329,0:01:33.092 And so Peter Clement was charged with [br]driving that 12 hour long rough road, 0:01:33.092,0:01:37.339 from Monrovia, the capital,[br]up to Lofa county, 0:01:37.339,0:01:41.701 to try and help bring control[br]to the escalating epidemic there. 0:01:41.701,0:01:47.063 And what Peter found when he arrived[br]was a terror that I just mentioned to you. 0:01:47.063,0:01:51.304 So he sat down with the local chiefs, [br]and he listened. 0:01:51.304,0:01:54.945 And what he heard was heartbreaking. 0:01:54.945,0:01:59.279 He heard about the devastation [br]and the desperation 0:01:59.279,0:02:02.578 of people affected by this disease. 0:02:02.578,0:02:04.746 He heard the heartbreaking stories about 0:02:04.746,0:02:08.103 not just the damage that [br]Ebola did to people, 0:02:08.103,0:02:11.299 but what it did to families [br]and what it did to communities. 0:02:12.589,0:02:16.239 And he listened to the chiefs, [br]the local chiefs there 0:02:16.239,0:02:17.434 and what they told him - they said 0:02:17.434,0:02:20.443 "When our children are sick, [br]when our children are dying, 0:02:20.443,0:02:24.247 we can't hold them at a time when [br]we want to be closest to them. 0:02:24.247,0:02:28.937 When our relatives die, we can't [br]take care of them as our tradition demands 0:02:28.937,0:02:31.617 we are not allowed to wash [br]the bodies to bury them 0:02:31.617,0:02:34.801 the way our communities and [br]our rituals demand. 0:02:34.801,0:02:38.208 And for this reason, [br]they were deeply disturbed, deeply alarmed 0:02:38.208,0:02:41.995 and the entire epidemic [br]was unraveling in front of them. 0:02:41.995,0:02:44.911 People were turning on the health care [br]workers who had come, 0:02:44.911,0:02:48.265 the heroes who had come to try [br]and help save the community, 0:02:48.265,0:02:53.184 to help work with the community,[br]and they were unable to access them. 0:02:53.184,0:02:58.402 And what happened then was [br]Peter explained to the leaders, 0:02:58.402,0:03:01.137 the leaders listened. [br]They turned the tables. 0:03:01.137,0:03:04.744 And Peter explained what ebola was.[br]He explained what the disease was, 0:03:04.744,0:03:07.019 he explained what it did[br]to their communities. 0:03:07.019,0:03:12.177 And he explained that Ebola threatened [br]everything that made us human. 0:03:12.177,0:03:16.563 Ebola means you can't hold your children[br]the way you would in this situation. 0:03:16.563,0:03:18.523 You can't bury your dead [br]the way that you would. 0:03:18.523,0:03:23.866 You have to trust these people [br]in the space suits to do that for you. 0:03:23.866,0:03:26.905 And ladies and gentlemen, what [br]happened then was rather extraordinary; 0:03:26.905,0:03:29.951 the community, health workers, Peter, [br]they sat down together 0:03:29.951,0:03:35.168 and they put together a new plan [br]for controlling Ebola in that Lofa county. 0:03:35.168,0:03:39.642 And the reason that this is such [br]an important story, ladies and gentlemen, 0:03:39.642,0:03:44.656 is because today, this County, which is [br]right at the center of this epidemic 0:03:44.656,0:03:47.513 you've been watching, [br]you've been seeing on the newspapers, 0:03:47.513,0:03:51.306 you've been seeing on [br]the television screens, 0:03:51.306,0:03:54.153 today, loafer County is nearly [br]eight weeks 0:03:54.153,0:03:57.720 without seeing a single case of Ebola. 0:03:57.720,0:04:04.439 (Applause) 0:04:04.449,0:04:07.872 Now this doesn't mean that [br]the job is done obviously. 0:04:07.872,0:04:10.888 There still are huge risk that [br]there will be additional cases there. 0:04:10.888,0:04:14.392 But what it does teach us is that [br]Ebola can be beaten. 0:04:14.392,0:04:15.930 That's the key thing. 0:04:15.930,0:04:19.363 Even on the scale, even with the rapid [br]kind of growth that we saw 0:04:19.363,0:04:24.571 in this environment here, [br]we now know Ebola can be beaten. 0:04:24.571,0:04:28.562 When communities come together [br]with health care workers work together, 0:04:28.562,0:04:31.235 that's when this disease can be stopped. 0:04:31.235,0:04:34.885 But how did Ebola end up in Lofa county [br]in the first place? 0:04:34.885,0:04:39.577 Well, for that, we have to go back [br]12 months, to the start of this epidemic. 0:04:39.577,0:04:42.828 And as many you know, [br]this virus went undetected, 0:04:42.828,0:04:46.803 evaded detection for 3 or 4 months[br]when it began. 0:04:46.803,0:04:49.306 That's because this is not [br]a disease of West Africa, 0:04:49.306,0:04:52.611 it's a disease of Central Africa, [br]half a continent away. 0:04:52.611,0:04:54.417 People hadn't seen the disease before, 0:04:54.417,0:04:57.156 health workers hadn't seen [br]the disease before -- 0:04:57.156,0:04:59.134 they didn't know what [br]they were dealing with, 0:04:59.134,0:05:01.383 and to make it [br]even more complicated, 0:05:01.383,0:05:05.951 the virus itself was causing a symptom,[br]a type of a presentation, 0:05:05.951,0:05:08.216 that wasn't classical of the disease. 0:05:08.216,0:05:12.631 So people didn't even recognize [br]the disease, people who knew Ebola. 0:05:12.631,0:05:16.490 For that reason it evaded detection [br]for some time, 0:05:16.490,0:05:19.660 But contrary to public belief [br]sometimes these days, 0:05:19.660,0:05:25.175 once the virus was detected, [br]there was a rapid surge in of support. 0:05:25.175,0:05:28.796 MSF rep relief set up [br]an Ebola treatment center 0:05:28.796,0:05:32.070 as many of you know, in the area[br]the World Health Organization 0:05:32.070,0:05:34.067 and the partners that it works with [br]deplored. 0:05:34.067,0:05:37.005 eventually hundreds of people [br]over the next two months 0:05:37.005,0:05:39.393 to be able to help track the virus. 0:05:39.393,0:05:43.424 The problem, ladies and gentlemen,[br]is by then, this virus, 0:05:43.424,0:05:46.977 well known now as Ebola, [br]had spread too far. 0:05:46.977,0:05:50.186 It had already outstripped what was [br]one of the largest responses 0:05:50.186,0:05:53.995 that had been mounted so far[br]to an Ebola outbreak. 0:05:53.995,0:05:56.403 By the middle of the year,[br]not just Guinea 0:05:56.403,0:06:00.366 but now Sierra Leone and Liberia[br]were also infected. 0:06:00.366,0:06:05.233 And the virus was spreading geographically[br]the numbers were increasing 0:06:05.233,0:06:10.289 and at this time, not only were [br]hundreds of people infected 0:06:10.289,0:06:12.978 and dying of the disease,[br]but as importantly, 0:06:12.978,0:06:14.907 the front line responders, 0:06:14.907,0:06:17.750 the people who had gone [br]to try and help the people, 0:06:17.750,0:06:20.892 the health care workers, the other [br]responders 0:06:20.892,0:06:24.312 were also sick and dying by the dozens. 0:06:24.312,0:06:26.882 The presidents of these countries [br]recognized the emergencies 0:06:26.882,0:06:30.422 they met right around that time, [br]they agreed on common action 0:06:30.422,0:06:34.640 and they put together an emergency [br]joint operation center in Conakry 0:06:34.640,0:06:38.960 to try and work together to finish this[br]disease and get it stopped, 0:06:38.960,0:06:41.712 to implement the strategies[br]we talked about. 0:06:42.242,0:06:46.199 But what happened then was something [br]we had never seen before with Ebola. 0:06:46.199,0:06:49.785 What happened then was the virus, [br]or someone sick with the virus, 0:06:49.785,0:06:53.181 boarded an airplane, [br]flew to another country, 0:06:53.181,0:06:57.323 and for the first time,[br]we saw in another distant country 0:06:57.323,0:06:59.879 the virus pop up again. 0:06:59.879,0:07:04.286 This time it was in Nigeria,[br]in the teeming metropolis of Legos, 0:07:04.286,0:07:06.245 21 million people. 0:07:06.245,0:07:09.228 Now the virus was in that environment. 0:07:09.228,0:07:12.768 And as you can anticipate, [br]there was international alarm, 0:07:12.768,0:07:16.536 international concern on a scale that [br]we hadn't seen in recent years 0:07:16.536,0:07:18.990 caused by a disease like this. 0:07:18.990,0:07:23.630 The World Health Organization immediately [br]called together an expert panel, 0:07:23.630,0:07:27.251 looked at the situation, [br]declared an international emergency. 0:07:27.256,0:07:32.346 And in doing so, the expectations would be[br]that there be a huge outpouring 0:07:32.346,0:07:36.996 of international assistance to help these [br]countries which were in so much trouble 0:07:36.996,0:07:39.034 and concern at that time. 0:07:39.364,0:07:42.111 But what we saw was [br]something very different. 0:07:42.341,0:07:45.869 There was some great response. 0:07:45.869,0:07:50.630 A number of countries came to assist,[br]many many NGOs and others as you know, 0:07:50.630,0:07:54.046 but at the same time, the opposite [br]happened in many places. 0:07:54.046,0:07:58.161 Alarm escalated and very soon [br]these countries found themselves 0:07:58.161,0:08:02.556 not receiving the support they needed[br]but increasingly isolated. 0:08:02.556,0:08:07.290 What we saw with commercial airlines[br]started flying into these countries 0:08:07.290,0:08:09.881 and people who hadn't even been[br]exposed to the virus 0:08:09.881,0:08:12.043 were no longer allowed to travel. 0:08:12.043,0:08:15.971 This cause not only problems, obviously, [br]for the countries themselves, 0:08:15.971,0:08:18.093 but also for the response. 0:08:18.093,0:08:21.055 Those organizations that were trying to[br]bring people in, 0:08:21.055,0:08:23.261 to try and help them[br]respond to the outbreak 0:08:23.261,0:08:25.193 they could not get [br]people on airplanes, 0:08:25.193,0:08:28.392 they could not get them in to the [br]countries to be able to respond. 0:08:28.392,0:08:30.404 In that situation,[br]ladies and gentleman, 0:08:30.404,0:08:33.639 a virus like Ebola takes advantage. 0:08:33.639,0:08:38.577 And what we saw then was something [br]also we hadn't seen before. 0:08:38.577,0:08:41.733 Not only did this virus [br]continue in the places 0:08:41.733,0:08:45.324 where they'd already become infected,[br]but then it started to escalate 0:08:45.324,0:08:47.692 and we saw the case numbers that you [br]see here, 0:08:47.692,0:08:50.746 something we'd never seen before [br]on such a scale 0:08:50.746,0:08:53.783 and exponential increase of Ebola cases 0:08:53.783,0:08:58.024 not just in these countries or the areas [br]already infected in these countries 0:08:58.024,0:09:01.883 but also spreading further and [br]deeper into these countries. 0:09:01.883,0:09:03.987 Ladies and gentleman, this was one of the 0:09:03.987,0:09:09.772 most concerning international emergencies [br]in public health we've ever seen. 0:09:10.502,0:09:13.723 And what happened in these [br]countries then, many of you saw, again, 0:09:13.723,0:09:16.742 on the televisions, read about in [br]the newspapers, 0:09:16.742,0:09:22.102 we saw the health system start to collapse[br]under the weight of this epidemic. 0:09:22.102,0:09:26.722 We saw the schools begin to close, [br]markets no longer started, 0:09:26.722,0:09:30.042 no longer functioned the way [br]that they should in these countries. 0:09:30.042,0:09:34.161 We saw the misinformation and [br]the misperceptions started to spread 0:09:34.161,0:09:37.645 even faster through the communities [br]which became even more alarmed 0:09:37.645,0:09:39.260 about the situation. 0:09:39.260,0:09:42.794 They started to recoil from those people [br]that you saw in the space suits, 0:09:42.794,0:09:45.091 as they call them, [br]would come to help them. 0:09:45.091,0:09:48.118 And then the situation deteriorated [br]even further. 0:09:48.118,0:09:50.800 The countries had to declare a state of[br]emergency. 0:09:50.800,0:09:54.315 Large populations needed to [br]be quarantined in some areas 0:09:54.315,0:09:59.975 and then riots broke out. [br]It was a very very terrifying situation 0:09:59.975,0:10:02.834 And the world many people began to ask 0:10:02.834,0:10:06.803 can we ever stop Ebola [br]when it starts to spread like this 0:10:06.803,0:10:11.255 and they started to ask, how well [br]do we really know this virus. 0:10:11.585,0:10:14.740 The reality is we don't know [br]Ebola extremely well. 0:10:14.740,0:10:18.595 It's a relatively modern disease [br]in terms of what we know about it 0:10:18.595,0:10:21.760 we've known the disease only for [br]forty years since it first popped up 0:10:21.760,0:10:24.502 in Central Africa in 1976. 0:10:24.502,0:10:27.582 But despite that we do know many things, 0:10:27.582,0:10:31.805 we know that this virus probably survives[br]in a type of a bat, 0:10:31.805,0:10:34.801 we know that it probably enters [br]a human population 0:10:34.801,0:10:38.258 when we come in contact with[br]a wild animal that has been 0:10:38.258,0:10:41.086 infected with the virus [br]and probably sickened by it. 0:10:41.086,0:10:44.307 Then we know that the[br]virus spreads from person to person 0:10:44.307,0:10:46.580 through contaminated body fluids. 0:10:46.580,0:10:49.051 And as you've all seen we know [br]the horrific disease, 0:10:49.051,0:10:53.483 that it then causes in humans[br]where we see this disease cause 0:10:53.483,0:10:56.351 severe fevers, diarrhea, vomiting, [br]and then 0:10:56.351,0:11:02.541 unfortunately, in 70% of the cases [br]or often more, death. 0:11:02.541,0:11:07.884 This is a very dangerous, debilitating, [br]and deadly disease. 0:11:08.344,0:11:12.517 But despite the fact that we've not known[br]this disease for a particularly long time, 0:11:12.517,0:11:17.394 and we don't know everything about it,[br]we do know how to stop this disease. 0:11:17.394,0:11:20.608 There are four things that are critical to [br]stopping Ebola. 0:11:20.608,0:11:24.922 First and foremost, the communities [br]have got to understand this disease, 0:11:24.922,0:11:28.443 they've got to understand [br]how it spreads and how to stop it. 0:11:28.443,0:11:32.519 And then we've got to be able to have [br]systems that can find every single case, 0:11:32.519,0:11:36.725 every contact of those cases and [br]begin to track to transmission chains 0:11:36.725,0:11:38.682 so that you can stop transmission. 0:11:38.682,0:11:42.304 We have to have treatment center[br]specialized Ebola treatment centers, 0:11:42.304,0:11:47.167 where the workers can be protected[br]as they try to provide support 0:11:47.167,0:11:49.689 to the people who are infected, 0:11:49.689,0:11:52.134 so that they might survive the disease. 0:11:52.134,0:11:55.664 And then for those who do die, [br]we have to ensure 0:11:55.664,0:12:00.192 there is a safe, but at the same time, [br]dignified burial process, 0:12:00.192,0:12:04.088 so that there is no spread [br]at that time as well. 0:12:04.798,0:12:09.299 So we do know how to stop Ebola and these[br]strategies work, ladies and gentlemen, 0:12:09.299,0:12:13.458 the virus was stopped in Nigeria [br]by these four strategies 0:12:13.458,0:12:15.562 and the people implementing them [br]obviously. 0:12:15.562,0:12:19.584 It was stopped in Senegal where it had[br]spread, and also in the other countries 0:12:19.584,0:12:23.047 that were affected by this virus, [br]in this outbreak. 0:12:23.047,0:12:27.018 So there's no question that [br]these strategies actually work. 0:12:27.018,0:12:32.326 The big question, ladies and gentlemen,[br]was whether these strategies could work 0:12:32.326,0:12:36.600 on this scale, in this situation, with [br]so many countries affected with 0:12:36.600,0:12:40.206 the kinda exponential growth [br]that you saw. 0:12:40.206,0:12:44.757 That was a big question that we were [br]facing just two or three months ago. 0:12:44.757,0:12:48.801 Today, we know [br]the answer to that question. 0:12:48.801,0:12:51.779 We know that answer because of [br]the extraordinary work 0:12:51.779,0:12:56.546 of an incredible group of NGOs and [br]governments, of local leaders, 0:12:56.546,0:13:00.932 of UN agencies and many humanitarian [br]and other organizations 0:13:00.932,0:13:04.850 that came and joined the fight, [br]to try and stop Ebola in West Africa. 0:13:04.850,0:13:08.293 But what had to be done there [br]was slightly different. 0:13:08.293,0:13:11.218 These countries took those strategies [br]I just showed you; 0:13:11.218,0:13:16.624 the communities and community engagement[br]the case finding, contact tracing, etc. 0:13:16.624,0:13:18.548 and they turn them on their head. 0:13:18.548,0:13:21.481 There was so much disease [br]they approached it differently. 0:13:21.481,0:13:26.912 What they decided to do was they would [br]first try and slow down this epidemic 0:13:26.912,0:13:30.959 by rapidly building as many beds [br]as possible so that they specialized 0:13:30.959,0:13:34.823 treatment centers so that they could [br]control, they could prevent the disease 0:13:34.823,0:13:37.200 from spreading from those were infected. 0:13:37.200,0:13:40.032 They would rapidly build out[br]many many burial teams so that 0:13:40.032,0:13:41.827 they could safely deal with the dead, 0:13:41.827,0:13:44.394 and with that, they would try and slow [br]this outbreak 0:13:44.394,0:13:48.613 to see if it could actually then [br]be controlled using the classic approach 0:13:48.613,0:13:51.364 of case finding in contact tracing. 0:13:51.364,0:13:55.867 And when I went to West Africa about [br]three months ago when I was there, 0:13:55.867,0:13:57.669 what I saw was extraordinary. 0:13:57.669,0:14:02.595 I saw presidents opening emergency[br]operation centers themselves against Ebola 0:14:02.595,0:14:06.363 so that they could personally coordinate [br]and oversee in champion 0:14:06.363,0:14:10.450 this surge of international support [br]to try and stop this disease. 0:14:10.450,0:14:14.001 We saw militaries from within [br]those countries in from far beyond 0:14:14.001,0:14:16.741 coming in to help build [br]Ebola treatment centers 0:14:16.741,0:14:19.991 that could be used to isolate [br]those who were sick. 0:14:24.460,0:14:27.449 to help train the community [br]so that they could actually 0:14:19.991,0:14:24.460 We saw the Red Cross movement working with[br]its partner agencies on the ground there 0:14:27.449,0:14:32.132 safely bury their dead[br]in a dignified manner themselves, 0:14:32.132,0:14:36.176 and we saw the UN agencies the World Food [br]Program build a tremendous 0:14:36.176,0:14:39.996 air bridge that could get responders [br]to every single corner of these countries 0:14:39.996,0:14:44.089 rapidly to be able to implement [br]the strategies that we just talked about. 0:14:44.089,0:14:47.434 What we saw, ladies and gentlemen, [br]which is probably most impressive 0:14:47.434,0:14:52.216 was this incredible work by the governments,[br]by the leaders in these countries 0:14:52.216,0:14:56.486 with the communities to try [br]to ensure people understood this disease, 0:14:56.486,0:15:02.169 understood the extraordinary things they [br]would have to do to try and stop Ebola. 0:15:02.169,0:15:07.189 And as a result, ladies and gentlemen,[br]we saw something that we did not know 0:15:07.189,0:15:11.179 only two or three months earlier,[br]whether or not it would be possible. 0:15:11.179,0:15:14.309 What we saw was what you see now [br]in this graph, 0:15:14.309,0:15:17.118 when we took stock [br]on the first of December. 0:15:17.118,0:15:20.560 what we saw was we could bend that curve, [br]so to speak, 0:15:20.560,0:15:24.334 change this exponential growth[br]and bring some hope back 0:15:24.334,0:15:27.163 to the ability to control this outbreak. 0:15:27.163,0:15:29.197 And for this reason, ladies and gentlemen, 0:15:29.197,0:15:33.368 there's absolutely no question now [br]that we can catch up with this outbreak 0:15:33.368,0:15:37.785 in West Africa, and we can beat Ebola. 0:15:37.785,0:15:39.578 The big question though is, 0:15:39.578,0:15:42.941 that many people are asking even when[br]they saw this curve, they said, 0:15:42.941,0:15:45.485 "hang on a minute, that's great[br]you can slow it down, 0:15:45.485,0:15:47.656 but can you actually drive it down [br]to zero?" 0:15:47.656,0:15:51.057 Now we already answered that question [br]back at the beginning of this talk 0:15:51.057,0:15:55.590 when I spoke about Lofa county [br]in Liberia, 0:15:55.590,0:15:59.526 we told you the story haw Lofa county [br]got to a situation where they have 0:15:59.526,0:16:01.829 not seen Ebola for eight weeks. 0:16:01.829,0:16:05.205 But there are similar stories from [br]the other countries as well. 0:16:05.205,0:16:07.451 From Gueckedou in Guinea, 0:16:07.451,0:16:11.959 the first area where the first case was[br]actually diagnosed. 0:16:11.959,0:16:15.373 We've seen very very few cases[br]in the last couple of months, 0:16:15.373,0:16:19.800 and here in Kenema, in Sierra Leone, [br]another area in the epicenter, 0:16:19.800,0:16:23.061 we have not seen the virus for more than [br]a couple of weeks -- 0:16:23.061,0:16:27.980 way too early to declare victory obviously[br]but evidence, ladies and gentlemen, 0:16:27.980,0:16:32.346 not only can the response catch up [br]to the disease but this disease 0:16:32.346,0:16:34.722 can be driven to zero. 0:16:34.722,0:16:38.878 The challenge now, of course, is doing this [br]on the scale needed 0:16:38.878,0:16:44.244 right across these three countries,[br]and that is a huge challenge. 0:16:44.244,0:16:46.579 Because when you've been at something 0:16:46.579,0:16:52.949 for this long, on this scale, two other [br]big threats come in to join the virus. 0:16:52.949,0:16:57.701 The first of those is complacency. [br]The risk that as this disease 0:16:57.701,0:17:02.739 curve starts to bend, the media look [br]elsewhere, the world looks elsewhere. 0:17:02.739,0:17:05.521 Complacency always a risk. [br]And the other risk of course 0:17:05.521,0:17:09.964 is when you've been working so hard [br]for so long and slept so few hours 0:17:09.964,0:17:15.510 over the past months, people are tired, [br]people become fatigued and these new risks 0:17:15.510,0:17:18.660 start to creep into the response. 0:17:18.660,0:17:20.830 Ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you today 0:17:20.830,0:17:25.150 I've just come back from West Africa. [br]The people of this countries, 0:17:25.150,0:17:27.936 the leaders of these countries, [br]they are not complacent. 0:17:27.936,0:17:31.879 They want to drive Ebola to zero [br]in their countries. 0:17:31.879,0:17:35.664 And these people, yes they're tired, [br]but they are not fatigued. 0:17:35.664,0:17:37.869 They have an energy, they have a courage, 0:17:37.869,0:17:40.399 they have the strength [br]to get this finished. 0:17:40.399,0:17:45.113 What they need, ladies and gentlemen, [br]at this point, is the unwavering support 0:17:45.113,0:17:49.437 of the international community, to stand [br]with them, to bolster and bring even more 0:17:49.437,0:17:54.727 support at this time, to get the [br]job finished. Because finishing Ebola 0:17:54.727,0:17:59.835 right now means turning the tables [br]on this virus, and beginning to hunt it. 0:17:59.835,0:18:05.124 Remember, this virus, this whole crisis, [br]rather, started with one case, 0:18:05.124,0:18:10.353 and is going to finish with one case. [br]But it will only finish if those countries 0:18:10.353,0:18:14.207 have got enough epidemiologists, [br]enough health workers, enough logisticians 0:18:14.207,0:18:17.594 and enough other people working with them[br]to be able to find every one of 0:18:17.594,0:18:22.636 those cases track their contacts and make[br]sure that this disease stops 0:18:22.636,0:18:24.220 once and for all. 0:18:24.220,0:18:27.557 Ladies and gentleman, Ebola can be beaten. 0:18:27.557,0:18:32.245 Now we need you to take this story out[br]to tell it to the people who will listen 0:18:32.245,0:18:35.457 and educate them on what it means[br]to beat Ebola, 0:18:35.457,0:18:39.189 and more importantly,[br]we need you to advocate with the people 0:18:39.189,0:18:42.743 who can help us bring the resources we[br]need to these countries, 0:18:42.743,0:18:44.517 to beat this disease. 0:18:44.517,0:18:48.699 There are a lot of people out there [br]who will survive and will thrive, 0:18:48.699,0:18:52.101 in part, because of [br]what you do to help us beat Ebola. 0:18:52.101,0:18:53.587 Thank you. 0:18:53.587,0:18:57.474 (Applause)