DHAKA: The World Health Organization is to "ramp up" efforts to prevent Ebola spreading beyond the three countries most affected by the deadly virus.

Fifteen African countries are being prioritised, top WHO official Isabelle Nuttall told a Geneva news conference.

They will receive more help in areas including prevention and protection, reports BBC.

But former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said he is "bitterly disappointed" with the international community's response.

In an interview with the BBC's Newsnight programme, Mr Annan said richer countries should have moved faster.

"If the crisis had hit some other region it probably would have been handled very differently.

"In fact when you look at the evolution of the crisis, the international community really woke up when the disease got to America and Europe. And yet we should have known that in this interconnected world it was only a matter of time."

BDST: 0958 HRS, OCT 17, 2014