Ebola outbreak: Liberia medics defy 'danger money' strike call Published duration 13 October 2014

media caption "Most people in Liberia do not believe the virus is real."

Nurses and medical assistants fighting the Ebola outbreak in Liberia have largely ignored a call to strike over danger money and conditions.

Most health workers were working as normal on Monday, the BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia said.

A union official said the government had coerced workers to ignore the strike - but the government said it had simply asked them to be reasonable.

Liberia is the country hit hardest by the deadliest ever Ebola outbreak.

Health workers are among those most at risk of catching the disease. Ninety-five have died from the virus in Liberia.

The latest outbreak has killed more than 4,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria since it was identified in March.

'Potential state failure'

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan said the outbreak threatened the "very survival of societies and governments in already very poor countries".

"I have never seen an infectious disease contribute so strongly to potential state failure," she said in a speech delivered on her behalf at a health conference in the Philippines.

In the US, President Barack Obama has directed tighter safety procedures when dealing with suspected Ebola patients, after a health worker treating an Ebola victim at a Texas hospital caught the virus.

image copyright EPA image caption More than 4,000 people have died during the Ebola outbreak

image copyright Reuters image caption The home of a US health worker infected with Ebola is disinfected

Liberia's National Health Workers Association had called the strike to demand an increase in the monthly risk fee paid to those treating Ebola cases.

The union wants workers to be paid a risk fee of $700 (£434) a month. The fee is currently less than $500 a month, on top of basic salaries of between $200 and $300.

The association also wants more protective equipment and insurance for workers, and has accused the government of not providing enough protection from the virus.

On Monday, the association's secretary-general, George Williams, said the government had put some health workers under "duress" and persuaded them to work.

'Common interest'

Liberia's Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah said a strike would have negative consequences on those suffering from Ebola and would adversely affect progress made so far.

The government says the scale of the epidemic means it now cannot afford the risk fee originally agreed.

Information Minister Lewis Brown said the government had asked health workers to be reasonable.

"We are working with them the best way we possibly can, so that they understand we should have a common interest in saving lives by fighting this disease," Mr Brown said.

Ebola deaths: Confirmed, probable and suspected

Source: WHO

Note: figures have occasionally been revised down as suspected or probable cases are found to be unrelated to Ebola. They do not include one death in the US recorded on 8 October.

Avoid direct contact with sick patients

Wear goggles to protect eyes

Clothing and clinical waste should be incinerated and any medical equipment that needs to be kept should be decontaminated

People who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex or use condoms for three months

'Full inquiry'

Liberia has about 50 doctors to serve the country's 4.2 million people - an average of 0.1 doctor per 10,000 people, according to data compiled by the Afri-Dev.Info health and social development agency.

media caption Mark Doyle reports on a new UN centre co-ordinating cases in Ghana

Six months after the epidemic began in West Africa, there are still only about a quarter of the treatment beds required to tackle it.

Food is now in short supply as markets are disrupted in some parts of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

In other developments:

A new UN centre to co-ordinate the fight against the epidemic is being set up in Ghana, which has avoided the outbreak. UN aid workers and logisticians are being flown to the capital, Accra

The archbishop of Guinean capital Conakry has issued guidelines aimed at checking the spread of Ebola in churches - included avoiding the ritual shaking of hands

media caption Alastair Leithead, outside the hospital, said the investigation is on-going

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