Fighting Ebola

A few weeks ago some cases of malaria briefly gave rise to rumours that #Ebola had arrived in #Addis. Thankfully this was wrong, but the story went viral on social media. Rumours and misinformation can spread even faster than Ebola.

As the disease continues to spread, there are increasingly worrying projections about how far it could go. Recent research by #Oxford University suggests this deadliest Ebola outbreak in history could spread to a further 15 countries in West and Central #Africa. But at least now we are seeing improved leadership and coordination to stem the spread.

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health has announced repeatedly that there is no evidence of Ebola being present in #Ethiopia. The flag carrier #EthiopianAirlines has announced screening of passengers, particularly on those coming from West Africa. The Ethiopian government has also trained some 300 health professionals who will be dispatched to regions across the country to provide training to other health workers as part of its early prevention mechanism. And it also started surveillance at various border crossings recently.

I attended the opening of a meeting in Addis of the African Union #AU Executive Council last week at which Foreign and Health Ministers from across the continent met to discuss a common strategy on Ebola. At the meeting, AU Chairperson Dlamini-Zuma (#DlaminiZuma) warned that in the battle to stop the outbreak, “we must be careful not to introduce measures that may have more… social and economic impact than the disease itself.” She said that, with border restrictions hampering trade, food prices are rising. Life should go on to enable agriculture and trade continue, but without compromising people’s safety. Others rightly warned that we must not forget about other killer diseases – such as #malaria and #TB – at this difficult time.

The #UK is at the forefront of the global effort to tackle Ebola. We have announced plans to develop a 12 plus 50 bed facility in #Kerrytown in #SierraLeone, to be run by Save the Children, and are supporting a #WHO training facility in #Freetown. A further £25 million (over $40 m) of #British finance is supporting the global effort to contain Ebola, including frontline treatment and funding for medical research to develop a vaccine. This is in addition to our share of funding of #UN and #EU initiatives.

The first case of Ebola involving a British national has just had a happy ending, with his release from hospital. But we are far from complacent: this outbreak will require continuing close co-operation between the wider international community and African nations , for some time to come.