i am grateful to the government of ghana for hosting ummer's headquarters in akra which has fas ittated at a time growth. i have visited the three most affidavit countries, liberia, sierra leone and guinea for three days each. i went on the trip to listen to learn and to identify areas where unmeer can be most helpful and find ways it can accelerate the response to the crisis. i met with the president of leipbiera and president of sierra leone and of guinea t i also met with government ministers and officials, with civil society, actors -- civil society actors, women's groups, ngos, the country ce teams and diplomatic community. i had the opportunity to visit two ebola treatment centers, one holding center for patients as well as the who training center. my first impressions have were vivid and deeply worrying. we saw how brief, tired and immensely dedicated national and international health workers are carrying on, under he knew tremely difficult circumstances. over 230 of these health workers have died in plybiera alone. we saw people and resources stretch stretched to the limit with