The United Nations said on Friday that its appeal for $1 billion to respond to the West Africa Ebola outbreak was only 25 per cent funded and a surge in trained health-care personnel was also needed to help tackle the crisis.
 
"Of the $1 billion sought by UN agencies under (the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) consolidated appeal only one quarter has been funded," Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told a U.N. General Assembly
briefing on the Ebola outbreak.

Ebola

A protocol of precautions for operating room personnel calls for the maximum personal protective equipment, which are in short supply in Sierra Leone. (Jim Young/Reuters)

Symptoms of Ebola such as fever, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain, which occur in a range of other conditions.

The total death toll as of Wednesday was 3,865, with most other deaths in Sierra Leone and Guinea.

With files from The Associated Press