At a time when mistrust of African governments is thought to be fueling the worst-ever Ebola outbreak, U.S. President Barack Obama released a video today urging the people of West Africa to get the facts, ABC News reports.

The Ebola virus has killed more than 1,550 people in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, according to ABC News.

The video was posted on the U.S. State Department’s YouTube channel.

A spokesman for the State Department told ABC News, “The target audience is West Africans and we’re doing all we can to make sure it reaches the hardest-hit areas.”

The video will be translated into local African languages and distributed through American embassies in the region.

“The United States is working with your governments to help stop this disease, and the first step in this fight is knowing the facts,” Obama said in the video.

Then he listed some common misconceptions about the virus, stressing that in fact it is spread by contact with body fluids.