New surge of Ebola cases in West Africa: European Union increases its emergency funding
25 Jun 2014 10:46 AM
The European Commission
is allocating an additional €500 000 to enhance interventions aimed at
curbing the worsening Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
This brings the total of Commission aid to €1.9
million.
“This is the worst
outbreak ever of one of the deadliest diseases known to man. We cannot let down
our guard - and we all have to step forward to help those who are courageously
fighting the disease on the front line,” said Kristalina Georgieva,
the European Union Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid
and Crisis Response.
The funding will enable three
organisations to sustain and expand their actions: Médecins Sans
Frontières for the clinical management of cases, the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for community outreach and
sensitization, and the World Health Organisation for the reinforcement of the
countries’ health responses.
Humanitarian experts from the
Commission are deployed in the region, where they are monitoring the situation
and liaising with local authorities and partners.
The European Mobile Laboratory
(EMLab), an EU-funded project for dangerous infectious diseases, has been
operational in Gueckedou, Guinea since the end of March. The European lab
experts help Guinea’s Ministry of Health to diagnose viral hemorrhagic
fever among suspected cases, thus helping to confirm Ebola, reduce the number
of undiagnosed cases and limit the further spread of the
disease.
Background
More than 325 cases of Ebola
have been confirmed in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Up until the end of
May only Guinea and Liberia had been affected. Since 29 May, however, 94 new
cases have appeared in Sierra Leone’s Kailahun district, an area
bordering Guinea. 12 new cases also reappeared in Liberia, which had been
declared Ebola-free.
The impending rainy season is
likely to hamper access to the remote epidemic hot spot of Kailahun. With new
cases also reported in Guinea and Liberia the epidemic’s regional
expansion requires coordinated approaches and an additional mobilization of
resources.
First discovered in the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan in 1976, several outbreaks of this viral
haemorrhagic fever have been reported in East and Central Africa, but not in
West Africa.
Highly contagious, human to
human transmission of Ebola occurs by simple contact with blood and body
fluids. No vaccine or treatment is yet available for this pathogen, one of the
world's most lethal with a case fatality rate of up to 90% depending on the
strain.
For more
information
The European Commission's
humanitarian aid and civil protection:
http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm
Commissioner Georgieva's
website:
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/georgieva/index_en.htm
Ebola in West Africa: European
Union joins effort to stop spread of disease (press release from 28 March
2014):
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-345_en.htm
p>
Ebola in West Africa: EU
increases its immediate health assistance to €1.1 million (press release
from 11 April 2014): http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-426_en.htm
p>