Brussels, 12/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Brussels on 15 December, the EU foreign affairs ministers will again take stock of the EU's coordinated response to the Ebola epidemic in the three most affected countries of West Africa (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea) and in the neighbouring countries, in close coordination with the United Nations and the African Union (see EUROPE 11213, 11208 and 11199).
The ministers' exchange of views, which is the last item on the agenda for the session, will be fed by the detailed written report that EU Coordinator for Ebola and European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides has put together ahead of the European Council on 18-19 December.
“The report will be sent to them at the end of the week”, said a diplomat on Friday. The ministers for development were informed of the report's content by Stylianides on Friday. It highlights the increase in EU aid (over €1.1 billion committed thus far, with €434 million of this coming just from the European Commission) - particularly in recent weeks for the mobilisation of medical equipment and mobile laboratories to detect the virus, and for the training of health professionals - even if the needs are still far from being met.
The ministers for development underlined the importance of stepping up immediate aid, but also aid over the mid- to long-term, in order to support and strengthen these countries' health systems, as provided for in the Cotonou Agreement, and to help them build their economic and social fabric, which is already fragile, before it is devastated by the epidemic. According to the last results from the WHO on 8 December, this unprecedented Ebola epidemic has claimed 6,388 lives out of 17,942 cases of infection. (AN)