The first plane load of hospital equipment from the United States will arrive in Liberia on Friday, the beginning of a US commitment to build 17 new Ebola treatment centers with 100 beds each for the troubled country.  Ebola has killed some 1,300 people in Liberia and almost 2,500 in this year’s West African Outbreak.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf hopes the US commitment will inspire other countries to act.

“On behalf of the Liberian people and in my own name, I want thank President Obama and the American people for scaling up the American response,” President Johnson Sirleaf said in an address to Liberians.  “We remain in touch with the leaders of other governments to take similar steps and join us in partnership to end this disease.”

Later on Thursday, the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on containing the spread of the Ebola virus.  Secretary-General Ban and World Health Organization Chief Dr. Margaret Chan will outline their international action plan to contain the threat.

“We can contain this; we know how to do it.  And we must avoid panic and fear.  But our collective response to date has not been sufficient.  We must move forward aggressively, in a coordinated fashion, and together,” said America’s UN Ambassador Samantha Power.

It’s only the second time that the Security Council – which normally deals with threats to peace and international security – has called a meeting to deal with a public health crisis.  The first time was with HIV AIDS.