United Nations Declares Mali Ebola Free

The fight against Ebola continues in African countries.

The United Nations has declared Mali Ebola-free, after 42 days without any new cases of the deadly virus.

Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Ousmane Koné said in a statement, ‘I declare on this day, January 18, 2015, the end of the end of the Ebola epidemic in Mali.’

Mali became the sixth West African country to record a case of Ebola when a two-year-old girl from Guinea died in October. It was close to being declared Ebola free in November before a second wave of infections.

How Mali braces borders and beyond amid Ebola crisis

In this photo taken Monday, Nov. 17, 2014, a Mali soldier, center, controls a crowd of people during a visit by their president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, at the border village of Kouremale, Mali, between Mali and Guinea. On Mali's dusty border with Ebola-stricken Guinea, travelers have a new stop: Inside a white tent, masked medical workers zap incomers with infrared thermometer guns and instruct them to wash their hands in chlorinated water. (AP Photo/Baba Ahmed)

BABA AHMED | AP
On Mali's dusty border with Ebola-stricken Guinea, travelers have a new stop: Inside a white tent, masked medical workers zap incomers with infrared thermometer guns and instruct them to wash their hands in chlorinated water.

After five recent Ebola deaths, Mali has become a front line in the fight against the virus, especially in the border town of Kouremale which two of those victims passed through last month. Malian authorities, with help from the U.N. and aid groups, this week deployed medical teams at the border to try to stop the disease's spread.

"You are Mali's portal. Don't be the weak link in the fight against Ebola. Mali must not become a land of propagation for Ebola in the world," President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita urged medical staffers and border guards during a visit as the deployment began. "We are counting on you to meet this challenge."