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The Ebola epidemic in West Africa could have been dealt with better if the international community had responded much quicker to the initial stages of the outbreak, according to President John Dramani Mahama. The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has killed over 4,500 people since the start of the year ,with West African countries Guinea,Sierra Leone and Liberia being the most affected. Several countries and organisations have made donations to aid the fight against the disease, including the European Union (EU), who have pledged 500 million euros to the cause while other donors have given almost $400m (�250m) to UN agencies and aid organisations. The United States and Britain have also sent troops and medical personnel to the affected countries to help curb the spread of the disease. However, President Mahama, who is also the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), believes the disease could have been managed better in the region had the international community reacted faster. He said: �Unfortunately, the response by the rest of the world was quite slow. As a result of the cultural practices and the peculiar nature of the area in which the outbreak occurred, it has spiralled much wider than we had expected and has not been possible to contain it as quickly as possible. President Mahama, who was speaking in Denmark after a state visit, also opined: �the three countries affected have been countries that were in conflict and therefore had a very weak public heath system and so when the outbreak occurred, the facilities just did not exist to be able to offer any treatment to people,� he said. Meanwhile Denmark has donated $1.7 million to help Ghana fight the deadly disease. According to the Danish development and trade minister, Mogens Jensen, their effort is to help �contain the spread of Ebola more effectively� in West Africa. �The Ebola epidemic in west Africa is the largest outbreak in the history of the disease. The situation is developing day by day. We have to attack from all angles in order to get the epidemic under control as quickly as possible,� he added.