Brussels, 06/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 6 November, the European Commission announced that the EU and the European pharmaceutical industry are to invest €280 million in research on vaccines against Ebola. The same day, an EU-Unicef partnership began transporting medical and health equipment by sea to the three West African countries affected by the virus - Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.
This boost in response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa - a response which is being coordinated by the EU - comes a few days ahead of the visit to the three countries by European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides and the EU coordinator for Ebola, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis on 12-16 November (see EUROPE 11191).
R&D. A €280 million call for proposals has just been launched by the Commission and the pharmaceutical industry under the innovative medicines initiative (IMI) in order to finance widescale clinical trials of new vaccines in the Ebola-affected countries, as well as the development of fast diagnostic tests and new approaches to manufacturing and distributing the vaccines. €140 million will come from the Horizon 2020 programme for research and innovation and will supplement the €24.4 million committed by the Commission back on 23 October for the development of vaccines (see EUROPE 11183). The remaining €140 million will be financed by the pharmaceutical companies that are members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).
Sending equipment. A ship set off from the Netherlands on Thursday, transporting ambulances, mobile hospitals and laboratories and other equipment, thanks to an EU-Unicef partnership. Nine EU member states (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and the UK) provided the material under the coordination of the EU civil protection mechanism.
Medical evacuation. Luxembourg is the first member state to have proposed two aeroplanes for European medical evacuation operations of international humanitarian workers diagnosed with Ebola, should this be needed. This offer complements the framework agreement concluded by the Commission with US company Phoenix Air.
During the last European Council, the EU brought its contribution to the fight against Ebola to €1 billion (see EUROPE 11184). The new funding brings the aid currently committed by the EU to €1.24 billion, which includes €895.6 million from the member states and €344.4 million from the European Commission. (AN)