Brussels, 15/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Monday 15 September, greatly concerned with the exponential spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa, the EU enhanced its coordinated response to this devastating epidemic in the countries affected in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria). The participants in the high level meeting hosted by the European Commission, and attended by United Nations representatives (see EUROPE 11153), confirmed their resolve to take action on all fronts - humanitarian assistance, civil protection, health, development cooperation, transport, education, security, and external relations - in order to help affected countries stamp out the epidemic. The idea emerged from this joint reflection “of developing a joint solution for medical repatriation - [a solution which would be] coordinated at European level, and which would enable requests and offers to be exchanged and coordinated via the rapid alert system. The issue will be debated at the informal Council of health ministers in Milan on Monday 22 September”, said European Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg.
“We agreed on the crucial importance of reliable systems of medical evacuation for humanitarian staff and medical workers in the affected countries so as to maintain an effective international response on the ground. To this end, we agreed to launch work without delay on developing a European co-ordination mechanism for medical evacuations. Participants at the meeting expressed their appreciation for a proposal from France which could form the basis of further discussion on such a mechanism”, say European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg, and European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva in a joint statement.
The EU has thus far committed nearly €150 million to help the affected countries (€140 million of which was pledged recently - see EUROPE 11149). European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs recalled that at this stage the epidemic is developing much more quickly than the means brought to stamp it out, and that “according to the WHO, the crisis will continue for at least nine months. Once the crisis is over, there will be immense needs linked to rebuilding the devastated health systems.” Piebalgs hoped that this fruitful meeting in Brussels would allow the EU to speak with one voice at the UN meeting in New York next week on Ebola.
Borg believed that, while the risk of the virus spreading in EU countries is low, “given the transmission modes and very high quality health systems, it is nevertheless important to remain alert and be prepared”. This is what the EU is doing. “We must find the effective means of guaranteeing the medical evacuation of health workers on the ground, in order to be able to repatriate them to Europe, if the need was felt for this. We must reassure our citizens, our businesses, airlines and EU companies that, if the risk exists, it must be managed and reduced - because creating panic would lead to no one wanting to travel to these countries any more. A hyper-cautious approach is proportionate. An excessive reaction would lead to useless anxiety and would make the relief efforts more difficult”, he said (our translation). According to the latest WHO figures, the Ebola epidemic had claimed over 2,400 lives on 12 September and there were double the number of cases of infection. (AN)