President Barack Obama has made it clear he believes the route to peace in our time leads through a campaign of making people in other nations like Americans. Nothing accomplishes that like saving lives abroad.

Later this month, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is to visit Washington. Part of her trip is to visit with Obama administration officials and members of Congress.

Let us hope Sirleaf can convince them that though Ebola makes few headlines now, the battle against it is far from over.

Liberia had been the center of an Ebola outbreak that, to date, has killed nearly 9,400 people in West Africa. Sirleaf’s nation appears to be recovering.

But in the two other hardest hit countries, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the number of Ebola cases has increased during the past two weeks. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this week that “we face a critical turning point. The pattern of the Ebola epidemic has changed.”

Another turning point – a decline in Americans’ concern about Ebola – also has been reached. Battling the disease no longer is viewed as a priority.

It should be. Ebola and other “emerging” diseases are terrible threats to the entire world. If they can be beaten in Africa, Americans will be safer.

And our nation will have earned some thankful friends. Obama and lawmakers should recognize that, and ensure Ebola research remains a focus.