EU announces 140 mln euros package to help fight Ebola
EU announces 140 mln euros package to help fight Ebola
The European Commission on Friday announced a 140 million euros (182 million U.S. dollars) package to fund countries currently affected by the Ebola virus in West Africa.
The Commission said among the total package, 38 million euros will be allocated to strengthen healthcare systems, including in the areas of healthcare provision, food security, water and sanitation.
A further 5 million euros will go towards providing mobile laboratories for the detection of the virus and training health workers, while 97.5 million euros will be spent in budget support operations to Liberia and Sierra Leone to reinforce governments’ capacity to deliver public services.
“We will do all we can to help governments in those countries affected in the areas where it is most needed,” European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs said while officially announcing the package during his visit to Benin Thursday.
The European Commission has been scaling up its response to the epidemic since March and had previously committed 12 million euros to help fight Ebola.
Highly contagious, human-to-human transmission of Ebola occurs by contact with blood and body fluids.
The latest official number of Ebola cases in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone stands at 3,069, with more than 1,552 deaths, making this the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded, according to the World Health Organization
