Ebola health care workers recognized

Health care workers treating people sickened in the Ebola epidemic, which has killed more than 6,300 people worldwide, have been named the person of the year by Time magazine.

Editor Nancy Gibbs praised “the people in the field, the special forces of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Christian medical-relief workers of Samaritan's Purse and many others from all over the world who fought side by side with local doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers and burial teams.”

The hemorrhagic fever developed from an outbreak into an epidemic in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, and there have been scattered cases in Nigeria, Mali, Spain, Germany and the United States.

Antoine Petibon, head of international programs for the French Red Cross, which has been active in fighting Ebola in the French-speaking country of Guinea, called it “great recognition for all these people who have been toiling in the shadows.”

“If it helps us wipe out this epidemic faster, all the better,” Petibon added.

Henry Gray, MSF operations coordinator for the Ebola response in Guinea and Liberia, said the spotlight should be on the patients and the thousands of people in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Mali "who are doing their best to deal with this horrendous outbreak."

Birte Hald, head of emergency operations for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said from Nairobi that "front-line fighters" deserve recognition.

"People doing the safe and dignified burials, the contact tracing and the transport of the sick, working in the treatment centers these are the people who deserve our praise and respect."

Time said the runners-up included Ferguson, Missouri, protesters; Russian President Vladimir Putin; Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud Barzani; and Jack Ma, the China-based founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Wire services