The Agencies Are Warn of Hunger in Ebola Zone

               The Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa could double the number of people facing hunger in the three worst-affected countries to more than one million by March, two United Nations agencies warned Wednesday. In a joint announcement, the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization said food shortages caused by crop losses in the three countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, had been exacerbated by border closings, quarantines, hunting bans and other restrictions. The agencies said that the crisis had already left 230,000 people in Guinea, 170,000 in Liberia and 120,000 in Sierra Leone “severely food insecure,” and that those numbers would double in the next three months “unless access to food is drastically improved and measures are put in place to safeguard crop and livestock production.” The warning came as the World Health Organization reported that the number of Ebola cases in the outbreak totaled 18,603, including 6,915 deaths.