UN chief lauds Cuba for sending medical workers to fight Ebola

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday thanked Cuba for its medical assistance to West Africa in the fight against the Ebola crisis.

Ban expressed gratitude in his meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, who is in New York for the UN climate change summit, which opens Tuesday.

During the meeting, "they addressed the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and the secretary-general thanked Cuba for its important contribution of medical doctors as part of international efforts to address the crisis," Ban's spokesman told reporters.

The Caribbean nation, known for its high medical level, decided in early September to send 62 doctors and 103 nurses to Ebola-hit African countries.

The Ebola virus has killed at least 2,500 people in West Africa and nearly twice as many have been infected since an outbreak in March, according to the World Health Organization. The number of cases is doubling every three weeks.

Ban and the Cuban minister also discussed current economic changes in Cuba, climate change and Cuba's role in hosting the Colombian peace talks, the spokesman added.