Ebola Conference: From Emergency to Recovery
While international efforts have reduced the number of Ebola infection in recent months, it is critical to maintain the momentum to prevent a sharp increase in new cases. To date the EU had committed €1.2 billion in cash and kind to the international response. This has ranged from the ship of supplies that reached West Africa in November 2014 to the arrangements for medical evacuation for health workers that enabled international volunteers to arrive in numbers.
69 countries represented
At the conference there were over 150 delegations, including 69 countries contributing to the fight against Ebola, 4 presidents from African countries, more than 50 ministers, together with international and Non-Governmental Organisations, the private sector and the scientific community. The Ebola affected countries were represented by their three Presidents who remained engaged in discussions throughout the day.
Speaking at the conference, EU Foreign Affairs Chief Federica Mogherini outlined the EU's response and said "a friend in need is a friend indeed, and the EU's deeds will, I hope, speak for our commitment to our friends and partners in Africa."
The Conference was co-chaired by the European Union, the Presidents of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the United Nations, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
It brought together all key international players to prepare the actions needed to bring the number of Ebola infections down to zero – and the measures to help the affected countries recover from the severe blows that the epidemic had dealt their people and economies.
Ebola effort has gone alongside Africa's own
Speaking at the conference Mrs. Mogherini praised the Africa Union's response to the crisis – mobilizing 850 health workers in a few short months with the help from the private sector. She also praised UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and his special envoy David Navarro and what she called the "unsung" work of UNMIL in Liberia. She also said the World Bank had been crucial in tackling the wider effects – and especially the economic aspect of the crisis.
Mrs Mogherini said that three challenges remained; "Firstly, complacency: Experience has taught us that we should not assume the worst is over."
The second she identified was that "the idea that the world can go back to the way it was. It cannot. We face a new and deadly global disease that, if not constantly addressed, could return to haunt us."
She went on to say "the third challenge we face is of building public services and getting the economies going again so that people earn their livelihoods and governments can afford the structures necessary to help their people."
Aside from Mrs Mogherini, the EU was represented by Neven Mimica, Member of the European Commission (EC) in charge of International Cooperation and Development, Vytenis Andriukaitis, Member of the EC in charge of Health and Food Safety, Christos Stylianides, Member of the EC in charge of Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management; EU Coordinator for the Ebola response, and Carlos Moedas, Member of the EC in charge of Research, Science and Innovation.