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WHO not commenting on critical leaked Ebola report


The World Health Organization said Saturday it is not commenting on a critical internal memo leaked to the Associated Press that acknowledged botched attempts to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

In the leaked draft memo, the United Nations health agency acknowledged that, at times, its own bureaucracy was problematic. The AP reports the memo stated "nearly everyone involved in the outbreak response failed to see fairly plain writing on the wall … a perfect storm was brewing, ready to burst open in full force."

WHO's response Saturday made clear the memo was the first draft from a small team documenting the chronology of the Ebola outbreak for future review.

"This document has not yet been fact-checked or reviewed by WHO staff involved in the initial response to Ebola, and is part of an on-going analysis of our response," the agency said in a statement.

The organization said it will not comment, do interviews or explain details of the document until it is fact-checked and finalized, which won't happen until the worldwide outbreak is under control.

"WHO believes in transparency and accountability and will release this review when it is fact-checked," the statement said. "For now, WHO's focus is to obtain the resources needed to successfully fight this Ebola outbreak …That review will come, but only after this outbreak is over."