Over 2,000 Germans have heeded the government's call to register as volunteers for deployment to fight the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the African Union (AU) said in a statement Monday.
German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, informed this to AU Commission Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, after the chairperson briefed him on AU's ongoing efforts to fight the disease, Xinhua reported.
The two officials met on the sidelines of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, said the statement.
The AU Commission chairperson laid out to the German foreign minister other measures taken by AU to fight the disease, highlighting the potential socio-economic impact that would follow the outbreak.
She appealed for massive awareness-raising and called for rapid proactive response to the aftermath.
Dlamini-Zuma welcomed the offer from the German government and hoped there would be proper coordination to ensure that the situation was brought under control soonest.
The German offer was publicly announced during a high-level summit on Ebola, convened by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, during which many other UN member states and partners announced contributions toward fighting the Ebola virus disease, said the statement.