This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The UN security council has called the Ebola outbreak "a threat to international peace and security" and urged the world to provide health experts, field hospitals and medical supplies.

A resolution adopted unanimously by the UN's most powerful body at an emergency meeting with an unprecedented 130 countries as co-sponsors reflected the rising global concern at the outbreak.

It was only the second time that the security council has addressed a public health emergency, the first being the HIV/Aids pandemic.

The UN health chief, Dr Margaret Chan, said the "deadly and dreaded Ebola virus got ahead of us" and it was time to urgently catch up.

"This is likely the greatest peacetime challenge that the United Nations and its agencies have ever faced," she said.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said the number of Ebola cases was doubling every three weeks. He called for a 20-fold increase in aid totalling almost $1bn (£600m) to tackle the crisis over the next six months.

Ban said the largest outbreak of Ebola in history "demands the attention of the world" and "unprecedented" action.

The UN is leading the global response to contain and eradicate Ebola and Ban announced that he was establishing a UN emergency mission to tackle the growing challenge.

He thanked the US president, Barack Obama, for sending 3,000 troops to provide expertise in logistics, training and engineering. He also credited about 20 other countries which have responded with contributions and urged all nations coming to the UN general assembly ministerial meeting next week to follow suit.

After the emergency UN meeting, Dr Joanne Liu, the international president of Médecins Sans Frontières, said: "MSF welcomes the emergency Ebola meeting of the UN security council.

"We call on member states and others to follow the lead of countries who have committed to join the fight against Ebola. We need concrete action on the ground now.

"Speed is of the essence. Although dangerously late, the pledges such as those of the US and UK are ambitious, but they must be implemented now. We do not have months or even weeks to wait. Thousands of lives are at stake. Other countries must commit to deploying assets and staff to the affected region as soon as possible.

"We are in uncharted waters. It is impossible to predict if the current pledges are enough because we do not know how the situation will degenerate in the coming weeks.

"There is no response too large. Flexibility to adapt to this unpredictable situation is paramount. Field hospitals, trained staff and coordination are desperately needed bring Ebola under control. Today."

The security council encouraged the governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to accelerate the rapid diagnosis and isolation of suspected Ebola cases and launch public education campaigns about the virus. It also encouraged the three governments "to continue efforts to resolve and mitigate the wider political, security and humanitarian dimensions of the Ebola outbreak".

The resolution addresses the "detrimental effect" of the isolation of the affected countries, especially on their economies. It calls for the lifting of travel and border restrictions, a resumption of shipping and air service to the affected countries and increased efforts to deliver health workers and supplies.

Jackson Niamah, a team leader for MSF at a treatment centre in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, told the council by videoconference that there were not enough centres and beds. People "are sitting at the gates of our centres, literally begging for their lives" and "are dying at our front door", he said.

"They rightly feel alone, neglected, denied left to die a horrible, undignified death," Naimah said. "We are failing the sick because there is not enough help on the ground. If the international community does not stand up, we will be wiped out."