Ebola epidemic 'could lead to failed states', warns WHO Published duration 13 October 2014

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

The Ebola epidemic threatens the "very survival" of societies and could lead to failed states, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

The outbreak, which has killed some 4,000 people in West Africa, has led to a "crisis for international peace and security", WHO head Margaret Chan said.

She also warned of the cost of panic "spreading faster than the virus".

Meanwhile, medics have largely ignored a strike call in Liberia, the centre of the deadliest-ever Ebola outbreak.

Nurses and medical assistants had been urged to strike over danger money and conditions. However, most were working as normal on Monday, the BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia said.

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

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

In a speech delivered on her behalf at a conference in the Philippines, Ms Chan said Ebola was a historic risk.

"I have never seen a health event threaten the very survival of societies and governments in already very poor countries," she said. "I have never seen an infectious disease contribute so strongly to potential state failure."

She warned of the economic impact of "rumours and panic spreading faster than the virus", citing a World Bank estimate that 90% of the cost of the outbreak would arise from "irrational attempts of the public to avoid infection".

Ms Chan also criticised pharmaceutical firms for not focusing on Ebola, condemning a "profit-driven industry [that] does not invest in products for markets that cannot pay".

At the scene: Mark Doyle, BBC international development correspondent, Accra, Ghana

In a corner of a UN compound at Accra airport, the UN's newest agency is having its first warehouse put up.

In a nearby office block, a multinational team of UN workers are finding desks and setting up phone lines for the regional headquarters of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER). The operation is so new that pieces of paper Sellotaped to walls and doors serve as nameplates.

But the question on many minds is why it has taken the UN so long to set up UNMEER. Medical aid agencies working on the front lines in the fight against Ebola, such as Medecins Sans Frontieres, have been sounding the alarm since the beginning of the year.

But UNMEER officials say they didn't realise until recently that the disease was out of control.

image copyright AFP image caption Health care workers are most at risk of infection

The latest outbreak has killed at least 4,033 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria since it was identified in March.

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

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

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

The association also wants more protective equipment and insurance for workers.

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

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

The government says the scale of the epidemic means it now cannot afford the risk fee originally agreed. It warned that a strike could also harm patients.

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," he said.

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: