If there is a crumb of comfort to be drawn from the Ebola crisis in West Africa, it is the slowing down of the rabid virus. UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, after a visit to Sierra Leone over the weekend, expressed cautious optimism on the possibility of eliminating Ebola from the region. Which is not to say that the crisis is any less critical. With a death toll of nearly 7,400 so far, and more than 19,000 people infected across West Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Ebola problem needs continual urgent attention for several reasons. Apart from tackling the contagion itself, the debilitating impact of this crisis on the economies of the affected countries needs to be urgently reversed. Rising food insecurity due to diminished agriculture is threatening livelihoods, closed borders are cutting off people’s access to food supplies, markets are in a slumber, schools barely functioning and the social fabric fraying. The world needs to work together to help West Africa surmount these problems.
The Ebola crisis has required huge funding and the €1.1 billion (Dh4.9 billion) from EU Member States and European Commission as well as $5.4 billion (Dh19.8 billion) of US President Obama’s $6.2 billion for Ebola have been of immense help. Canada and UK have sent military personnel to the affected region to help on the ground and while these efforts are showing results, the international community needs to do more to rid West Africa of Ebola. As Ban Ki-Moon put it, “It has never been so important to work together.”
