--- description: The Secretary-General of the U.N., Ban Ki-moon, said Tuesday that the Ebola epidemic threatened the political stability of West Africa title: U.N. Chief: Ebola Is 'Beyond Health Issues' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2d2c90b833cb45d/6986a3b536176072d490de10/rtr46guk.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [ebola](/tag/ebola/) ## ebola Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # U.N. Chief: 'Ebola Has Gone Beyond Health Issues' by [Helen Regan](/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 17, 2014 8:10 AM CUT  United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks at a news conference ahead of the 69th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 16, 2014\. REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR46GUK United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks at a news conference ahead of the 69th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 16, 2014\. REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR46GUK© Mike Segar / Reuters by [Helen Regan](/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 17, 2014 8:10 AM CUT The Secretary-General of the U.N., Ban Ki-moon, said Tuesday that the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has “gone beyond health issues” and could even affect the political stability of the region. “It has gone to the areas of affecting social and economic situations, it may even affect political stability if this is not properly contained and properly treated,” he said during a press briefing. The Ebola virus has killed more than 2,400 people and there have been nearly 5,000 reported cases of the disease. Ban said the U.N. is “taking the lead” in global efforts to fight Ebola, the Associated Press [reports](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ban-un-taking-lead-global-fight-ebola "undefined"). He will attend an emergency meeting Thursday between the U.S. and the World Health Organization to discuss a global “[action plan](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ban-un-taking-lead-global-fight-ebola "undefined")” to contain the outbreak. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama [confirmed](http://time.com/3387646/obama-on-ebola-the-world-is-looking-to-us/ "undefined") increased U.S. efforts to contain the spread of Ebola. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3390865/un-ban-ki-moon-ebola-beyond-health-issues/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3390865/un-ban-ki-moon-ebola-beyond-health-issues/"},"headline":"U.N. Chief: 'Ebola Has Gone Beyond Health Issues'","datePublished":"2014-09-17T08:10:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:13:51.347Z","description":"The virus threatens political stability in West Africa, Ban Ki-moon warns","url":"https://time.com/3390865/un-ban-ki-moon-ebola-beyond-health-issues/","keywords":["ebola","U.S.","Disease","United Nations","Ban Ki-Moon","health","World Health Organization","West Africa","ebola virus"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2d2c90b833cb45d/6986a3b536176072d490de10/rtr46guk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Helen Regan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/helen-regan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2d2c90b833cb45d/6986a3b536176072d490de10/rtr46guk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks at a news conference ahead of the 69th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York","caption":"United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks at a news conference ahead of the 69th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York","creditText":"© Mike Segar / Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3390865/un-ban-ki-moon-ebola-beyond-health-issues/","name":"U.N. Chief: 'Ebola Has Gone Beyond Health Issues'"}}]}] ```