The World Bank Group on Tuesday pledged the sum of $200m to contain the spread of Ebola in West Africa.
The amount would also help communities affected by the epidemic cope with the economic impact of the crisis, and improve public health systems throughout West Africa.
A statement from the bank made available to our correspondent in Abuja said the with the latest death toll from the West African sub-region now at 887, the emergency funding would help Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone reduce the spread of the disease.
It quoted the World Bank Group President Dr. Jim Yong Kim, a medical doctor experienced in treatment of infectious diseases, to have said the new financing commitment was in response to a call from both the three African countries hardest-hit by Ebola and the World Health Organization for immediate assistance to contain the outbreak.
He said the bank would also step up social safety net assistance for affected communities and families and help to build up public health systems in West Africa to strengthen the region’s disease control capacity more generally.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, had on Monday said one of the doctors that treated the Liberian-born American, Patrick Sawyer, who died of the Ebola disease, had contracted the virus.
Chukwu said the discovery is now the second case of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria noting that about eight other persons who came into contact with Sawyer, and who had developed the Ebola symptoms, had been quarantined while 70 others were under surveillance.
The World Bank boss in the statement said he would brief the Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors as soon as possible on the latest state of the epidemic and seek their approval for the new emergency package.
He said, “I am very worried that many more lives are at risk unless we can stop this Ebola epidemic in its tracks.
“I have been monitoring its deadly impact around the clock and am deeply saddened at how it has ravaged health workers, families and communities, disrupted normal life, and has led to a breakdown of already weak health systems in the three countries.
“The international community needs to act fast to contain and stop this Ebola outbreak. I believe this new World Bank emergency funding will provide critically needed support for the response to stop the further transmission of Ebola within Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, which would prevent new infections in neighboring at-risk countries.”
Explaining how the new emergency fund would be used, he said that the new financial pledge would pay for urgently needed medical supplies, salaries for medical staff, and other vital materials to stabilize the health system, while also helping communities cope with financial hardship caused by the epidemic.
The new package, he added, would also help to build up the region’s disease surveillance and laboratory networks to guard against future epidemic outbreaks.
WHO leadership, he said, was vital to international and regional efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic, which is West Africa’s first-ever outbreak of Ebola virus disease but has become the largest ever in the nearly four-decade history of this disease.
The World Bank Group he said would work in close coordination with the WHO and other partners such as the Economic Community of West African States.
An initial World Bank-IMF assessment for Guinea projects a full percentage point fall in GDP growth from 4.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent.
Agriculture has also been affected in all three countries as rural workers have fled farming areas in the affected zones. To date, there has been no measurable impact on the food supply.
The statement also quoted the World Bank’s Vice President for Africa, Makhtar Diop, to have said that the Bank’s latest emergency response will also include social safety net measures to help families and communities trying to cope with financial loss as a result of the outbreak.
“We will build up safety net protection measures for families and communities in the affected countries in light of the further hardship we expect Ebola will create for people who were already poor and vulnerable to begin with. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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