Friday, April 17, 2015

Had meeting at HHS in Room 305A in Humphrey Building with the Presidents of Liberia (Ellen Johnson Sirleaf), Sierra Leone (Ernest Koroma) and Guinea (Alpha Conde) to discuss the status of the Ebola outbreak. Much good will with expressions of cooperation and collaboration. The Presidents insisted (appropriately) that we cannot rest until the cases go to zero. Also, they spoke of developing sustainable infrastructure that will be available for the next outbreak of Ebola or any other disease. President Koroma spoke of his desire to establish an African CDC. I described for President Sirleaf the successful implementation of the RCT for vaccine (in Liberia) and the RCT for ZMapp (in Liberia and Sierra Leone). She obviously already knew about this since we had briefed her previously and she knew that we were also helping to renovate clinics in Redemption Hospital and JFK Hospital in Monrovia. Of note, when President Conde heard that we were doing these trials in Liberia he expressed (through a French translator) his strong desire for us to do such trials in Guinea. Obviously, this is good news for Cliff who is trying to get around the nonsense of the Norwegians and WHO regarding their trying to stop us from doing the trial (see above). Meeting ended very well.