A plane carrying some 50 Cuban doctors and nurses arrived in Liberia on Wednesday to help treat victims of Ebola in the country, where a U.S. military mission is also deploying to fight the deadly virus.

An Air Cubana jet carrying the 51 medical staff touched down at Monrovia’s Roberts International Airport. Another group of around 40 doctors from the communist-led Caribbean island were due to arrive in neighbouring Guinea on Wednesday.

Margaret Chan, WHO DG and Roberto Morales Ojeda, Cuba’s Public health minister in Geneva in September

Last September, Cuba’s health minister had told the World Health Organisation in Geneva that the country would send 165 medics to West Africa to assist global efforts to contain the deadly virus.

At a news conference at the headquarters of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, Roberto Morales Ojeda, said the first of his workers would begin arriving in Sierra Leone in early October.

WHO director general Margaret Chan welcomed Cuba’s commitment, saying it would make “a significant difference” in Sierra Leone.

“If we are going to go to war with Ebola, we need the resources to fight,” she said.

“Cuba is world famous for its ability to train outstanding doctors and nurses and for its generosity in helping fellow countries on the route to progress.”