Obama Doesn't Want to Send the Secret Ebola Serum to Africa Anytime Soon
President Obama held a news conference on Wednesday evening to tout the success three day U.S. African Leaders Summit, but what reporters really wanted to know about was Ebola.
Obama said it was premature for him to
say whether the U.S. would send an unapproved, experimental drug to
Africa or whether he would support fast-tracking its approval in the
U.S.
"I think we've got to let the science guide us,
the president said, adding that he didn't have enough data about the
effectiveness of the medicine.
While
acknowledging the tragedy for those families whose loved ones have
died, Obama sought to tamp down fears about the latest outbreak and said
Ebola was "controllable if you’ve got a strong public health
infrastructure in place.
The summit
addressed questions of how to increase U.S. investment in Africa.
Although the government gives billions of dollars of foreign aid to the
continent, China has rapidly accelerated its pace of investment in oil
rich African nations.
On
Tuesday, Obama announced 33 billion dollars in new commitments to
Africa, which included investments from companies like Coca Cola and
General Electric. He noted that the U.S. trade with Africa is roughly
equal to U.S. trade with Brazil.
"The United States is determined to be a partner in Africa's success," Obama said on Tuesday.
"We don't look to Africa simply for its natural resources. We recognize
Africa for its greatest resource, which is its people, their talents
and their potential.
No comments:
Post a Comment