Last month, the United States made two promises to Liberia.
On Sept. 8, Obama pledged that the U.S. would construct a 25-bed hospital outside Monrovia, the capital, to treat health care workers. They've been bearing the brunt of the outbreak: In Liberia alone, at least 188 health workers have been infected and 94 have died.
Then on Sept. 16, Obama announced a massive response to the outbreak, involving thousands of U.S. troops on the ground to train health care workers, deliver relief supplies and build 17 Ebola treatment centers for the general public.
At the time of announcement, Obama stressed that time is of the essence. "It's spiraling out of control. It is getting worse. It's spreading faster and exponentially," he said at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "Today, thousands of people in West Africa are infected. That number could rapidly grow to tens of thousands."
Yet progress on the hospitals has been slow.
As NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from Liberia, it's been a month and locals are still spreading gravel on the construction site of the 25-bed hospital. Standing on the side are dozens of locals looking for work.
The 17 other treatment units that Obama promised are also under construction. Our photo gallery checks in on the progress for these projects.
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