Following the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in African nations including Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the World Health Organization (WHO) has opened a regional Ebola response center to help deal with the effects of the disease.

New cases and deaths from EVD have continued to mount over the past few weeks, prompting an emergency response from the WHO. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of July 20, a total of 415 cases of Ebola virus disease were reported in Guinea, including 312 fatalities.

The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Gomes Sambo is hopeful that the center will act as an effective platform to streamline the support efforts brought to West African countries to deal with the outbreak.

“The Center will allow monitoring in real-time of the activities to fight the epidemic, in collaboration with the national committees and the teams deployed on the ground,” said Dr. Sambo in a statement.

At the request of health ministers from 11 African nations following an emergency meeting in Accra, Ghana, the decision was made to improve the response between coordinating, communicating, collaborating and treating patients infected with Ebola. These challenges will be met far more efficiently with the introduction of a single coordination center set up in Guinea.

Because of the vast spread of the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Africa, the response capacity must be a strong one. Nations affected need to boost their epidemic response systems to deal with this first major outbreak in West Africa.