EU to draw up action plan in fight against Ebola

European Union member states are to draw up a joint policy to help tackle the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa. EU health ministers met on Monday (22 September) and agreed to begin the process of drafting the plan. Beatrice Lorenzin, Italy’s health minister, said after the meeting. “We will work together to co-ordinate the aid effort.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday that the Ebola outbreak, the worst epidemic of the virus ever, is now under control in Senegal and Nigeria, two of the five countries affected. But WHO experts predicted that if control measures – such as complete sterilisation of equipment and isolating infected people – are not improved quickly, the total number of people infected will continue to rise.

By early November, six months after the outbreak was first reported, the number of contaminations could exceed 20,000.

Philippe Maughan, head of sector at the European Commission’s department for humanitarian aid and crisis response (ECHO), said: “We hope that by the end of this year the number of people infected will be stable, but this epidemic will be at the forefront in these countries until at least the middle of next year.”

Germany has already pledged to send up to 400 troops to help, and France will set up a military hospital in Guinea. The UK foreign ministry last week (17 September) announced that 700 treatment beds would be supplied to Sierra Leone. Humanitarian experts have also been sent to the region to help partner organisations and local authorities.

MEPs last week called on the Commission to assess the need for health personnel, mobile laboratories and equipment. They also said that military support under a United Nations banner should be considered.

Marcus Cornaro, deputy director-general at the Commission’s department for development and co-operation, said: “Scaling up on staff is not only a matter of funding, it is about safety too. We must make sure that the health workers do not get infected themselves.

In September the Commission announced €140 million of funding for four affected countries: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria. This was in addition to the €11.9 million in humanitarian aid provided since March.

Of this new funding, €97.5m will be used to reinforce the Liberia and Sierra Leone governments’ capacity to deliver healthcare and €38 million to boost healthcare systems and food security, water and sanitation.

The WHO says that over €700m is needed to keep the Ebola infections within the “tens of thousands”. The death toll since March has risen to nearly 2,800 and the number of infected people has reached 5,700. So far, there have been no infections reported in Europe.