PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Teresa Romero, a Spanish nurse’s aide who contracted Ebola, received well-wishes before her release Wednesday.
COTONOU, Benin — With nearly 5,000 dead of Ebola in West Africa, the World Health Organization elected a new director Wednesday of its Africa office, which has been accused of bungling the response to the outbreak in its early stages.
The new chief, Matshidiso Moeti, is a doctor from Botswana and a WHO veteran who stepped down as deputy director for Africa in March, the same month the crisis was announced.
The results of the five-candidate election were made public at a meeting of the UN agency in Benin and came amid the worst outbreak of the dreaded disease ever seen.
‘‘I hope, with all the control efforts that are now in place, the situation will have improved by the time I take office in February,’’ Moeti said.
She said that the health systems in hard-hit Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea have been devastated and need to be rebuilt and that warning systems and monitoring capabilities must be improved ahead of any future Ebola outbreak.
In an internal draft document last month, WHO accused its Africa office of initially botching the response to Ebola, deriding many of its regional staff members as ‘‘politically motivated appointments.’’ The report said WHO staff in Africa refused to help get visas for outside specialists and compromised the containment effort in other ways.
The outgoing regional director, Dr. Luis Sambo of Angola, is completing his second five-year term and was ineligible to run again. He has declined numerous interview requests.
In a report on lessons learned, released ahead of this week’s meeting, the Africa office attributed the explosive spread of the virus to such factors as poor awareness and badly trained health workers.
Aboubakar Sidiki Diakite, inspector general for Guinea’s health ministry, welcomed the election as an opportunity for reform. ‘‘A change always brings new impetus,’’ he said in Paris. He said the new director would find weaknesses in the system that need to be remedied.
Representatives of WHO’s 47 African member countries voted by secret ballot for the regional director. In her campaign brochure, Moeti listed a priority as building a responsive, effective WHO. Moeti previously held posts in Botswana’s Health Ministry and also led WHO’s Malawi office.
Meanwhile, a Spanish nurse’s aide who was the first person known to have contracted the Ebola virus outside Africa was released from a Madrid hospital Wednesday, almost a month after she tested positive for the disease.
In other developments, President Obama asked Congress for $6.2 billion in emergency funds to fight Ebola in West Africa and strengthen US defenses against the disease.
Source: bostonglobe.com
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