The United States has sent a health official to a Cuban meeting on coordinating Latin America's response to Ebola. The participation of the Centers for Disease Control's Central America director is the most concrete sign to date of the two nations' expressed desire to cooperate against the disease. The two-day meeting that began Tuesday in Havana is sponsored by ALBA, a forum of left-leaning Latin countries founded by Cuba and Venezuela as a counterweight to US influence in the region. Cuba is sending at least 256 medical workers to West Africa to treat and prevent Ebola. The World Health Organisation says that's the largest contribution by a single government, although there may be more doctors of other nationalities who are sent by non-governmental organisations. The US has welcomed Cuba's response. Source: ja observer