Brussels, 28/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has called on the European Union to set in place a permanent rapid response mechanism to deal with health crises similar to the Ebola epidemic, and has called for a long-term reflection for assistance to the developing countries affected.
At its plenary session on 27 October, the European Parliament adopted, by a sizeable majority, the own-initiative report by Charles Goerens (ALDE, Luxembourg) (632 votes in favour, 11 against and no abstentions). They call on the European leaders to respect their commitments following the Ebola crisis and, in particular, to guarantee, as a matter of urgency, access to a new vaccine in the countries affected. “The Ebola crisis was a systemic crisis which highlighted the inability of the authorities to react at global level (…). Let us be aware of our moral obligation to provide access to treatment everywhere in the world”, rapporteur Goerens summed up during the debate which preceded the vote.
Criticising the slowness of the international reaction over the first months of the outbreak, the resolution aims to learn lessons from the crisis and calls upon the European Union to improve its weaponry to tackle similar situations in the future, with minimum impact on the population. The MEPs are calling for a permanent rapid response mechanism to be set in place, mobilising experts and medical staff, with logistical equipment and mobile laboratories which can be deployed swiftly. Control points would also be set up in the developing countries to monitor the emergence of infectious diseases and verify whether these could develop into pandemics. The Parliament stresses the EU's responsibility in the management of the crisis in three of the countries affected by Ebola (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea), which were unable to take charge of the monitoring of the crisis alone, and to help them to reinforce their healthcare systems. They also stressed the critical importance of prevention and awareness campaigns to manage the crisis, because “we cannot let our guard down with a virus which could manifest in other forms”, Charles Goerens stressed. (Original version in French by Isabelle Lamberty)