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N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed former foreign minister Marty Natalegawa as a member of the High-Level Panel on Global Response to Health Crises.

During the announcement in New York on Wednesday, Ban appointed Tanzania'€™s President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete as chairperson. Other members include Celso Luiz, Nunes Amorim of Brazil, Micheline Calmy-Rey of Switzerland, Joy Phumaphi of Botswana and Rajiv Shah of the US.

Ban said the panel would be tasked with making recommendations for strengthening national and international systems'€™ ability to prevent and manage future health crises, taking into account lessons learned from the international response to the outbreak of the Ebola virus.

In carrying out its work, the panel will undertake a wide range of consultations, including with representatives from affected countries and communities, the UN system, multilateral and bilateral financial institutions, regional development banks, NGOs, countries supporting the response effort, other member states, health-care providers, academic and research institutions, the private sector and other experts.

According to the UN website, the panel will be supported by a resource group of leading experts that will provide advice on technical issues and other matters.

The panel will hold its first meeting in early May 2015 and is expected to submit its final report to the secretary-general at the end of December 2015.  The secretary-general will make the report available to the General Assembly and take further action as appropriate.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has left more than 10,000 dead in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three worst-hit countries.

The UN decided Thursday to cut some 700 troops from its mission in Liberia as the country makes strides in its recovery from the Ebola outbreak.

The Security Council voted unanimously to draw down the the UN mission in Liberia (UNMIL) mission from its current level of about 5,800 forces to 5,105 by September.

The 15-member council adopted a resolution that said Liberia should be able to fully manage its security by June 30, 2016.

Liberia has been the hardest-hit country by the Ebola epidemic that began in December 2013 and has killed more than 10,400 people.

A Liberian woman who was the country'€™s first Ebola patient in more than a month died last week in a case that dimmed hopes the nation would soon be free of the epidemic.

A US military mission deployed to Liberia to help combat the epidemic wrapped up in February as the numbers of new cases dropped sharply.

The UNMIL was established in 2003 as Liberia emerged from a devastating civil war.

Meanwhile, a patient who was being evaluated for possible Ebola at a Colorado hospital has tested negative for the virus, the state'€™s health department said on Thursday.

The patient, who was not identified, recently travelled to an Ebola-affected country and was taken to a hospital north of Denver late on Wednesday after falling ill, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said.

It did not provide further details on the patient.

At least 10 people are known to have been treated for Ebola in the United States '€” four of them diagnosed with the disease on US soil '€”amid an epidemic centered in West Africa during the last year.