West African countries plan to strengthen health systems after Ebola
The health facilities and infrastructure put in place to help Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea contain the Ebola virus disease epidemic should form the basis of a new health system, the World Health Organization has urged.

At a high level meeting on building resilient health systems at WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, many delegates said that the equipment and resources provided by non-governmental organisations and donor governments should be used for building health systems after the epidemic.

Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO’s assistant director general, told a press conference convened during the meeting that many delegates said it was too early to put a timescale on the proposal, adding, “There need to be transitional plans put in place in order to make sure these assets become a base for future growth in these countries.”

She said that building laboratory and surveillance …