Geneva, September 15 (RHC) -- Sending healthcare professionals to fight Ebola in West Africa is yet another heroic decision of Cuba, said Bernardo Alvarez, executive secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

“If there is a country which has helped the weakest in difficult times, that's Cuba,” said Alvarez in statements to Prensa Latina while participating in the traditional celebration of the French newspaper L'Humanité in Paris, France.

In Geneva last week, the Cuban Minister of Health, Roberto Morales, reported that 165 health care workers, of whom 62 are doctors and 103 nurses were sent to Sierra Leone, to fight Ebola there.

He said that in the case of Africa there are now more than 4,000 collaborators in 32 countries, of which 2200 are doctors.

Meanwhile in Addis Ababa, the Member States of the African Union (AU) called to develop a unified, comprehensive and collective response to combat the outbreak of Ebola, during an emergency meeting of the Executive Board.

Delegates urged regional governments to lift all travel bans and restrictions related to the outbreak of the Ebola virus, and to respect the principle of free movement.

The AU said that measures related to traveling must be consistent with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The Council requested the AU Commission to work closely with member states, with international and regional organizations, to mobilize sufficient resources to respond to the crisis.

It also requested that all necessary measures for the speedy creation of an African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Acdcp) be taken, and to ensure the functioning of this center by mid-2015, including the improvement of early warning systems to deal with all health emergencies in a timely and effective manner.